Swimmers outside of flagged patrol areas 10 times more likely to need rescuing

New research by a team from James Cook University - that used geomorphological, environmental and human data to better understand factors leading to surf rescues - has found that those who swim outside of flagged patrol area are almost 10 times more likely to need rescuing than those who swim between the flags.

The findings, published in the journal Natural Hazards, used rescue data from Surf Life Saving Queensland’s Lifesaving Incident Management System and Operations Console for 54 wave dominated beaches in South East Queensland from 1st July 2016 to 6th October 2021 - looking at risk factors for surf rescue to reveal the importance of red and yellow beach flags.

As explained by research team member Ogilvie Thom in a blog “different types of beaches have different risk factors for rescue. Beaches protected from the swell by a headland have a strong relationship between wave size and rescues. The larger the waves the more likely you will need rescuing.

“Surprisingly that doesn’t hold for open beaches. Rescues go up as wave size increases, but once the waves are larger than average, rescues decrease. The reasons for that need to be investigated further.

“Beaches with inlets or tidal channels have a strong relationship between rescues and the outgoing tide. For other beaches, rescues are more likely when the tide is low.”

The rescue data used in the study, Preventing beach goers from drowning: analysis of geomorphological and human data to better understand factors leading to surf rescues, was linked with wind speed and direction, air temperature, phase of tide, wave height and period, beach type, beach hazard rating and beach swimmer numbers.

It covered 8515 rescues, with 3345 (39.3%) females and 5109 (60%) males (61 sex not recorded) and, while there were no independent predictors of surf rescue, swimming outside the lifeguard patrol area was nine times more likely to result in rescue than swimming inside the patrol area. Increased rescues were noted at periods of increased rip activity, with rip currents the most frequently recorded contributing factor.

Rescues occurred most frequently (5902, 69.3%) during the six hours of lower tide levels and during onshore winds (5463, 64.2%).

Thom went on to comment “we (also) have to understand that how you and I behave has an enormous impact on whether we need rescuing.

“Some of the safest beaches in Queensland had the highest rescue rate per swimmer.

“It’s not just swimming between the flags.”

Click here to access the full journal article Preventing beach goers from drowning: analysis of geomorphological and human data to better understand factors leading to surf rescues in Natural Hazards.

Image credit: Sunshine Coast Council.