Time to enlist surfers’ help for swim rescues

IT’S disturbing to see the sudden rise in drowning deaths at some of our most famous surf beaches.

Two people drowned over the Christmas period at two of Australia’s most famous surf beaches — Duranbah on the Gold Coast and Woolamai, here in Victoria.

Surfers are often involved in rescuing troubled swimmers all over Australia.

The recent tragedies make me think more effort needs to go into upskilling experienced surfers so they are better equipped to assist.

Making a general call to all surfers to start performing rescues is probably fraught with danger because an inexperienced surfer forcing him or herself to rescue someone in the surf can possibly lead to more trouble.

But the opposite is probably the case for experienced surfers who understand the surf, the rips, the dangers and how to negotiate these dangerous regions.

Swimming between the flags under the watch of lifesavers is the safest way to be at the beach.

But with the popularity of going to the beach and the number of people swimming in the ocean, there’s always going to be stray swimmers.

While a lot of people will simply enjoy their swims with- out incidents, there’ll be others who get trapped by the ocean’s hidden and unpredictable dangers.

I think the most experienced surfers that I know have been involved in assisting troubled public swimmers.

And while it may have appeared simple assistance at the time, the consequences are probably far greater than surfers generally assume.

Let’s hope the remainder of the summer can be incident free on the surf beaches throughout the country.

Small today and hard to find a decent wave anywhere, then improving slowly through Friday.

The weekend looks particularly good with clean winds and waves on the reefs along the entire coastline.