Courtesy of WOWSA, Huntington Beach, California.

The Surf Living Saving Australia recently published its annual National Coastal Safety Report. The report included a heavily researched and well-documented 2009 Life Saving Report with an abundance of startling information. Similar to life-saving research in America, the Surf Living Saving Australia found most drownings of individuals over the age of 15 occur in the open water rather than a pool.

But unlike the findings in America, Australian men are nearly NINE times more likely to drown at the beach than women. Men accounted for 83 of the 94 (88%) coastal drowning deaths in Australia with those between 30 and 39 recording the highest number of deaths.

“Men just never seem to learn when it comes to surf safety,” observed Matt Thompson of Surf Life Saving Australia. “Arrogance, bravado and an inflated sense of their surf swimming ability are a lethal combination and the statistics speak for themselves. Men need to learn the limits of their ability. We hope these figures will shock them in to changing their behavior at the beach. Safely negotiating rips is a major area that we hope to educate the public in and you will see this throughout the summer.”

But the world-famous and fantastically brave Australian life savers continue to do their best to help keep their coastlines safe. Over the 12-month period of the report, 23,075 rescues, 1,322,212 preventions occurred, first aid was administered 69,013 times with 87 resuscitations and 20 reported shark-related incidents.

Copyright © 2012 by World Open Water Swimming Association