Surf lifesavers and lifeguards have had one of their busiest weeks of the year and are bracing for a hectic long weekend.
The first week of the autumn school holidays saw 93 rescues across the Sunshine Coast.
On top of this, our beach guardians completed over 4,500 preventative actions to stop people getting into trouble.
They’re big numbers and highlight the good work done by our lifesavers and lifeguards, but we can’t stress enough the importance of only swimming between the flags to make their job as easy as possible.
The Easter long weekend is traditionally busy as people take the time to get away and have a break with family.
Our number one priority is to ensure that all those families can go home together without a tragedy.
Once again, we’re asking people to really consider their actions and forget the “she’ll be right” attitude because it won’t save your life.
Look after your family and friends, take that extra time to travel that bit further to a patrolled beach and don’t go swimming after having a few drinks.
What’s in store for the weekend?
The surf is expected to pick up through Good Friday into Saturday and hold at about the 1-1.5m mark before dropping again on Tuesday.
It will be accompanied by strong south-easterly winds and is expected to be powerful.
We have a large range between the tides with 1.8m highs and lows at about 0.3m.
This large range will mean that as the tide runs out there will be strong rips to enable the water to get off the beach.
The large swell will push more water up onto the beach that will contribute to the strength of the rips.
High tides will be in the morning across the weekend, so the tide will be running out throughout the morning until the low around lunchtime. Showers area once again are possible.
Enjoy your weekend and if you’re heading to the beach make sure you of course only swim between the red and yellow flags!
Aaron Purchase is Surf Life Saving Queensland’s regional manager for the Sunshine Coast. His column in sunshinecoastnews.com.au keeps the community informed of what’s happening on the beach and offers tips on how to stay safe.
