Water Safety Hyper Vigilance

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact:

Great Lakes Surf Rescue Project

Dave Benjamin, Executive Director and Public Relations

708-903-0166

Water Safety – Exercise Hyper Vigilance

Search continues for missing 15 year old

GREAT LAKES, USA – The Great Lakes Surf Rescue Project (GLSRP) advises hyper vigilance around bodies of water and pools this Memorial Day Weekend especially as the search continues for 15 year old Lexie Adu who went missing playing near a break wall at Loyola Park beach, Chicago.  Memorial Day is often thought of as the ‘unofficial’ start of summer, and everyone must exercise hyper vigilance to have a safe and happy summer season. 

“Great Lakes drownings are increasing at an alarming rate,” said Dave Benjamin, GLSRP executive director.  “Anytime someone goes to the Lakes, it’s important to exercise extreme water safety.  We have very warm air temps, but water temps are still in the sixties.  Add some wind and waves to that and it could be a formula for tragedy.”

To date in 2012, 18 people have drowned in the Great Lakes.  Overall since 2010, 179 people have drowned (74 in 2010; 87 in 2011; and 18 to date in 2012). 

“Air temperatures may be sweltering this weekend and people will be getting out into the water and may find themselves unable to get back into shore,” said Bob Pratt, GLSRP executive director. “More than half of Lake Michigan's rip currents, those strong currents that pull swimmers away from shore happen around structures such as piers, jetties, and break walls.”

The Great Lakes Surf Rescue Project will be hosting its first “Water Safety Surf Rescue” class of 2012 Sunday, June 3, in coordination and support of the National Weather Service’s “National Rip Current Awareness Week.”

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The Great Lakes Surf Rescue Project, Inc. (GLSRP) is about saving lives. It is a nonprofit corporation that is a Chapter of the National Drowning Prevention Alliance (NDPA), the 2011 “Lifesaver of the Year” award winner, presenter at the NDPA’s 11^th Annual Symposium, and the 2012 winner of the “Outstanding Service to the Great Lakes Community” award presented by the Dairyland Surf Classic, Sheboygan, WI. The GLSRP tracks drowning statistics, teaches “Water Safety Surf Rescue” classes, and leads the “Third Coast Ocean Force” rip current awareness campaign on the Great Lakes.