VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. — “We come to the beach often and we see the umbrellas hitting you or hitting the kids,” said Louis Ocampo.
Looking up and down the Oceanfront they’re everywhere, big and bright, the always popular, but sometimes dangerous, beach umbrella.
Beachgoers said one gust of wind can turn an umbrella into a flying projectile.
“The ends of them are very pointed and it’s like a spear flying in the air with a parachute attached to it so it can really move,” said Tony Reynolds.
The irony is most of these store-bought umbrellas don’t come with instructions.
“I don’t know if I was actually looking for directions, but there weren’t any in there,” said Melody Reynolds.
Sunrise Beach Services rents out between 200 and 250 beach umbrellas every day. They take their job very seriously.
“It’s something that’s an art, something that we train our staff on. We take a lot of pride in putting them in properly and the general public probably isn’t going to know how to do that,” said Megan Eurenius.
Eurenius was happy to demonstrate the proper way to use a beach umbrella.
“The first step you want to take when properly putting in a beach umbrella is to clear the loose sand away from where you plan on putting it into the ground,” said Eurenius.
Next, she jabs the umbrella into the ground and rocks it back and forth until it is buried 18 inches deep. Then she fills in the hole.
“It’s very important to make sure the umbrella is leaning into the wind to provide that resistance,” said Eurenius.
She also said you have to use common sense. If the wind gusts are continuously reaching 12 to 15 miles per hour, it might be best not to put up the umbrella at all.
According to Beach Umbrella Safety, the safest umbrellas have a vented fabric top, sturdy spokes and you should use sand as an anchor. They also recommend using sand bangs and screw-type anchors to secure the umbrella.