SURFERS along the coast have completed rescues in recent weeks, prompting calls for policymakers to expand safety strategies beyond traditional flagged areas.<\/p>\n
Two local surfers led a rescue operation last week at Lorne beach, saving a 10-year-old girl caught in a rip current.<\/p>\n
The previous week, surfers at Jan Juc rescued about a dozen swimmers from rips they described as “the worst ever seen”, prompting calls that a new approach is needed outside the flags and outside of life saving patrol times.<\/p>\n
UNSW Beach Safety Research Group professor Rob Brander said while the “swim between the flags” message was essential, it alone is not enough to ensure complete beach safety.<\/p>\n
“The reality is that people are drowning at unpatrolled beaches.<\/p>\n
“I think we need to accept that’s going to be the reality.”<\/p>\n
Prof Brander. is advocating for alternative strategies in these less monitored areas.<\/p>\n
One initiative is Surfers Rescue 24\/7, a board rescue and CPR course for surfers offered by Surfing Victoria.<\/p>\n
Surfing Victoria’s Liam Robertson said the program was both popular and getting results.<\/p>\n
“The program gives participants the confidence in their abilities to perform a rescue and therefore their willingness to perform a rescue in the ocean is much higher, which is great.<\/p>\n
“And the feedback across the board has been positive.”<\/p>\n
However, the program faced funding cuts in 2023 and is now operating at a reduced capacity.<\/p>\n
“We had four years’ worth of funding that finished in end of June 2023, which was funded by the Victorian government through Emergency Management Victoria.<\/p>\n
“Then from that we’ve managed to secure a small amount of funding through Play it Safe by the Water, which is a water safety initiative in Victoria<\/p>\n
“That’s allowed us to manage the program at a much smaller scale, so we’re only doing around five to six public courses a year, as opposed to the 20 to 30 we conducted the previous year.”<\/p>\n
Prof. Brander said alternative approaches should not replace the traditional beach safety message.<\/p>\n
“We still need to push the swim between the flags message, but we can’t continue to ignore the unpatrolled beaches.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
SURFERS along the coast have completed rescues in recent weeks, prompting calls for policymakers to expand safety strategies beyond traditional flagged areas. Two local surfers led a rescue operation last week at Lorne beach, saving a 10-year-old girl caught in a rip current. The previous week, surfers at Jan Juc rescued about a dozen swimmers […]<\/p>\n