PHUKET: Talks are underway to try to prevent Phuket's tourist beaches being left unprotected by lifeguards as happened last year for seven weeks.
Annual meetings between the Phuket Lifeguard Service and the Phuket Provincial Administrative Organisation occur because the contract is renegotiated each year.
While the PPAO has agreed to the budget of 20 million baht, Phuketwan understands that the governing body would like to see more lifeguards on more Phuket beaches at the same cost.
Lifeguards now number 106 at 13 popular tourist beaches along Phuket's west coast. Service officials say much of their equipment is worn and needs replacing.
The contract expires at the end of May. Despite an upgrading in skills among the lifeguards and hundreds of rescues, drownings still claim lives in the seas around Phuket needlessly.
Water safety experts have made the point that as a year-round beach holiday destination, Phuket must do more to ensure that visitors who come during the more dangerous May-October monsoon season do not drown.
Last year, eight tourists drowned at Phuket west coast beaches between mid-May and mid-July.
During the monsoon period, good resort managers warn guests that they are safer in resort pools - or if they really do prefer the seas, to always swim between the lifeguard flags.
Tourists are advised to never enter the sea when red flags for danger are flying.
Some resorts that welcome guests for beach holidays during the monsoon season still fail to take responsibility for warning guests when conditions are not safe.
During the monsoon season, some of Phuket's most popular swimming beaches develop rip currents that can pull swimmers out to sea.
The currents only become dangerous when swimmers struggle to get back to shore against them. Expert advice is to allow the current to pull you out, then swim sideways, out of the current.
Statistics on the number of drownings on Phuket have not been updated since 2011. Annual figures for the road toll on Phuket have also not been provided since 2011.
Annual meetings between the Phuket Lifeguard Service and the Phuket Provincial Administrative Organisation occur because the contract is renegotiated each year.
While the PPAO has agreed to the budget of 20 million baht, Phuketwan understands that the governing body would like to see more lifeguards on more Phuket beaches at the same cost.
Lifeguards now number 106 at 13 popular tourist beaches along Phuket's west coast. Service officials say much of their equipment is worn and needs replacing.
The contract expires at the end of May. Despite an upgrading in skills among the lifeguards and hundreds of rescues, drownings still claim lives in the seas around Phuket needlessly.
Water safety experts have made the point that as a year-round beach holiday destination, Phuket must do more to ensure that visitors who come during the more dangerous May-October monsoon season do not drown.
Last year, eight tourists drowned at Phuket west coast beaches between mid-May and mid-July.
During the monsoon period, good resort managers warn guests that they are safer in resort pools - or if they really do prefer the seas, to always swim between the lifeguard flags.
Tourists are advised to never enter the sea when red flags for danger are flying.
Some resorts that welcome guests for beach holidays during the monsoon season still fail to take responsibility for warning guests when conditions are not safe.
During the monsoon season, some of Phuket's most popular swimming beaches develop rip currents that can pull swimmers out to sea.
The currents only become dangerous when swimmers struggle to get back to shore against them. Expert advice is to allow the current to pull you out, then swim sideways, out of the current.
Statistics on the number of drownings on Phuket have not been updated since 2011. Annual figures for the road toll on Phuket have also not been provided since 2011.
If I may make a small correction, you should not wait for the current to pull you out, you should calmly swim sideways right away, understanding that you will still drift outwards but will eventually get away from the rip which is usually less than 100m wide.
If you just float in it and wait until it dies down, you may end up 2km offshore. That is not what you should do.
Posted by Stephen on May 3, 2013 08:37
Editor Comment:
There is no ''must do'' answer. You can either float with the current or try to go sideways when you think you can manage. No Phuket beach current will carry anybody out for more than a few hundred metres.
The experts at
http://beachsafe.org.au/surf-ed/ripcurrents
see it a little differently, Stephen. I think they have it right.
Here's what they say:
Rip Current Survival
If you get caught in a rip current, there are two approaches you can take, or a combination of both:
1. Relax, float and attract attention: if you are on a patrolled beach or there are surfers nearby, you can float with the current and wait for assistance. Sometimes, rip currents can also flow in a circular pattern which will return you back to the sandbank where you can stand up.
2. Escape the rip current, by swimming parallel to the beach towards the breaking waves.
These may sound like simple options, but rip currents are complex, dynamic processes and both responses also have down sides. You could float on an unpatrolled beach and not be returned to a sandbank with no-one there to help. You can also swim parallel and end up swimming against a longshore current which can flow along a beach; this will see you get tired quickly.