PANAMA CITY BEACH — One of the most common reasons people get in trouble in the water is they overestimate their swimming abilities, said PCB Aquatics Center director Will Spivey, who trains lifeguards. It’s also common for visitors to ignore the flag warning system enter dangerous waters.
“Some people are like, ‘This is my week’s vacation, and I’m going to get in that water, by God,’ ” Spivey said.
Lifeguards at the aquatics center train to focus and ignore potential distractions so they can recognize struggling swimmers. Beachgoers should keep a close eye on their children, too, regardless of the water conditions, Spivey said.
“Even on a calm day we can’t get complacent,” Spivey said. “Drowning is the second leading cause of accidental death for children under 5.”
Swimmers should be aware of rip currents, which might not be visible, and know what to do if they get caught in one. Swimmers who try to swim back to shore against one can become exhausted; instead, a swimmer should swim parallel to the shore until they are free of the current and then swim in.
He urged non-swimmers or weak swimmers to use Coast Guard-approved floatation devices. Those water wings and inflatable tubes aren’t going to cut it for people who end up in trouble, Spivey said. Swimming pools are unpredictable enough, but the Gulf of Mexico is much more dangerous.
“Being trained in a pool and being trained out here in this water are two different animals,” said Capt. Joe Cocco with the Panama City Beach Fire Department.
The fire department has people who are trained to do water rescues, and Panama City Beach Surf Patrol actively cruses the beach.
The Bay County Sheriff’s Office has reorganized the way it patrols the beach. In the past, deputies actively patrolled the sand, but that won’t always be the case anymore. They’ve moved deputies off the beach, but there will be more deputies patrolling the unincorporated areas of the beach, all with the four-wheel drive vehicles required to get out on the sand, and they’ll be trained and equipped for water rescues.
Eighteen of the 22 deputies assigned to the beach recently have been lifeguard certified, which isn’t as rigorous a certification as water rescue certification, but water rescue training is in progress, too, Maj. Tommy Ford said.
“On a beautiful day when there’s no ripples on the water, you might not see us anymore, because we don’t have that luxury to sit and watch the beach,” Sheriff Frank McKeithen said. “We’re not lifeguards.”
Actively patrolling the sand will be reserved for busy times and times with rough waters. McKeithen thinks the reorganization will keep beachgoers as safe or safer than before, but it still won’t prevent drownings. People will still get drunk and wade out too far — or ignore red flags.