Beach expert: Swimming between patrol flags is ‘USELESS’

An Australian academic specialising in rips has controversially declared the famous red and yellow patrol flags used to designate where on the beach is safe to swim as ‘useless’.

Rob Brander, who is known as ‘Dr Rip’, who has been studying beaches and surf science for more than 30 years, told the Gold Coast Bulletin that the ‘swim between the flags’ message had ‘lost its effectiveness’.

‘When people stand up and say swim between the red and yellow flags, it’s useless. It’s like a useless message – white noise.

Beach expert Rob Brander (pictured) says the patrol flags on Australia’s beaches are ‘useless’

Dr Brander thinks that the 'swim between the flags' message had 'lost its effectiveness'

Dr Brander thinks that the ‘swim between the flags’ message had ‘lost its effectiveness’

‘It’s a controversial statement but I think it’s a discussion we need to have. We know people aren’t swimming between them and there are so many beaches that are unpatrolled and they’re easy to get to.

‘You can’t stop people from swimming and people don’t read signs, and you’ve got to have the mindset of beach-goers. 

The University of NSW associate professor and coastal geomorphologist told the publication that more people should be made aware of the danger of rips because just ‘four per cent of Australia’s 11,000 beaches have flags’. 

Rips are the biggest killers on Australian beaches, with strong rip currents capable of dragging swimmers from shallow water to hundred meters offshore within minutes.

In Queensland alone, 22 of the 77 drowning deaths in Queensland over the past 10 years have occurred just 200m from a patrolled beach, figures from Surf Life Saving Queensland show.

They have no recorded deaths from drowning between the red and yellow flags. 

Patrol flags (pictured) show the supervised area of the beach that life guards are watching

Patrol flags (pictured) show the supervised area of the beach that life guards are watching

Dr Brander said Queensland wasn’t the only state where flags were absent or swimmers were ignoring them.   

A recent spate of drownings at NSW beaches, including the death of a man believed to be a tourist, prompted warnings from Surf Life Saving NSW.

A group of eight people, believed to be tourists, got into trouble at Duranbah Beach on Monday afternoon.

He calls for more danger awareness because only '4 per cent' of Australia's beaches have flags

He calls for more danger awareness because only ‘4 per cent’ of Australia’s beaches have flags

The beach, near Tweed Heads, is patrolled and does have red and yellow flags showing swimmers where is safe to swim. 

Life guards rushed to save the group of eight them but a 22-year-old man was unable to be revived after he was hauled from the surf.

His death marks the 17th coastal drowning in the state since July and comes just weeks after a teenager and 11-year-old boy drowned in separate incidents on the NSW mid-north Coast.

Surf Life Saving NSW CEO Steven Pearce said the latest tragedy reinforced the need for water safety warnings to be heard and understood. 

Surf Life Saving (pictured) NSW CEO says water safety warnings to be heard and understood

Surf Life Saving (pictured) NSW CEO says water safety warnings to be heard and understood



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