Lifeguards – the only safeguard in SA seas

Jarrod Garber pleaded with family and friends to swim only on beaches where there are lifeguards in a video made in the car directly after being involved with a failed sea-rescue mission off the coast of Durban.

Garber, a software architect and volunteer with the National Sea Rescue Institute (NSRI), sent out the message on Tuesday, 26 November, after they were unable to save a 23-year-old man from drowning.

Garber said that after that incident, he wanted to share what he saw with everyone he knew to ensure that people were safe at the beach during the December holidays.

“I saw it with my own eyes. This family’s life has been changed forever while standing on that beach,” said Garber. “Most of us go on holiday and think that nothing is going to happen because we are strong swimmers, but anything can happen.”

On that Monday afternoon, Garber was alerted to an incident in the surf zone at Eastmoor Crescent Beach in Umhlanga. He was told that a young man from Limpopo was on the beach with his brother when he went for a swim with no lifeguards around.

Garber and other NSRI volunteers immediately went in search of the man, who went missing after being caught in a rip tide. Despite an extensive sea and shoreline search that ended only the following day, they couldn’t find him. His body was located and recovered by police only on Friday on Clarkes Beach in Ballito.

“Drownings happen extremely quickly,” said Garber. “You literally have minutes to save a person. Sadly, on this day, we were unable to save him.”

David Rosenberg, a volunteer with the NSRI in Cape Town, said, “Drowning is silent. Parents and caregivers should always watch children when they are near water, and should be an arm’s length away from the child when they are in the water.”

Garber agrees. “Most people look at the ocean and have no idea what they’re looking at. But someone who has spent a lot of their life in the ocean like surfers, divers, and lifeguards, looks out and sees things that no-one else will see.”

“Rip currents are the biggest danger,” said NSRI Marketing Manager Andrew Ingram, and visiting a beach where lifeguards are on duty is the safest option.

“Some people just see calm water and think it’s nice because there are no waves, but someone who knows the ocean knows that there are no waves because there’s a deep channel that has a rip tide pulling out, which is the most dangerous place to be swimming,” he said.

Garber said that the Eastern Cape and KwaZulu-Natal had the most districts with high numbers of drownings between January 2016 and March 2023, but that didn’t mean other places were safe. Swimming where there are lifeguards is the only safeguard.

Garber said it was important to swim between the two flags set up by the lifeguards because they know it’s the safest area to swim.

Said Ingram, “It’s wiser to go into the water where lifeguards are on duty. Rips are present at many of South Africa’s beaches. They are formed depending on wave height, frequency, and beach structure. They are dangerous because most people find them difficult to identify.”

Rip currents are the leading cause of rescues by lifeguards at beaches, Ingram said. They don’t pull individuals under the water but can quickly drag them away from the shore. Panic often leads swimmers to swim against the current, which can result in exhaustion and drowning.

However, Garber said, rip tides aren’t the only danger. On some beaches, the water becomes deep very quickly. “These beaches are especially dangerous because of their violent shore break, and can catch people off-guard,” he said.

There are also numerous drownings when people go swimming when they are drunk, Garber said.

Garber and the NSRI urge people caught in a rip current not to try to swim against the current because it’s a fight that even the strongest swimmers can’t win. It’s crucial to stay calm in the situation, conserve energy by floating, and swim parallel to the shore. Instead of swimming directly back to land, swim at a 90-degree angle to escape the current’s grip. Signal for help: Raise your arm and shout for assistance if needed.

It’s also inadvisable for someone without training to try and save someone who appears to be drowning because they can get caught in the rip current and be dragged down and drown as well. This is what happened on 14 December 2022, when father of five Dovi Hochstadter (39) rushed into the ocean in KwaZulu-Natal to help his son, Daniel, ultimately saving his child but sacrificing his own life.

Dovi jumped into the ocean after 11-year-old Daniel went for a swim on Glenmore Sands Beach without lifeguards and was taken by a current.

Lifeguards were able to get to the pair, but were ultimately able to save only one. Dovi was caught in a whirlpool and when the next swimmer reached him, it was already too late.