2012 Flip, Float, and Follow MEDIA MENTIONS
1. September
11, 2012,
The Herald-Palladium
“Flip, float and follow – A life-saving motto for those
struggling in water”
2. September
11, 2012
Traverse City Record-Eagle
“Great Lakes drownings: 89 so far this year”
Benjamin said the chief rule for swimming in the Great Lakes
is respect for the water's power. He encourages swimmers to follow the Michigan
Sea Grant's "Flip, Float and Follow" strategy when caught in a rip
current. The first step is for swimmers to flip onto their back and float to
conserve energy and fight off a sense of panic. The next step is to follow the
current and swim perpendicular to the current's flow, until the swimmer is able
to emerge. "When you are floating, you can calm down and assess which way
it's pulling you," Benjamin said. "As long as you are floating, you
are alive. As long as you are struggling, you are drowning."
3. September
04, 2012
WNDU 16
“Great Lakes drownings hit 87”
The project
continues to push the technique “Flip, Float and Follow.” If caught in a rip
current, don’t panic. Instead, swimmers should flip onto their back, float to
see where the water is moving, and then swim parallel to the shore.
4. August
27, 2012
Post-Tribune
Jerry Davich
Colum: ‘I think Corey would be proud of me’
“Everyone who
enters the Great Lakes should know about the ‘Flip, Float, and Follow’ rip
current survival campaign,” he said. “As long as are floating you are
alive.” The eventual goal of the Michigan Sea Grant’s “Flip, Float,
Follow” rip current survival strategy is to develop a national curriculum
similar to the Fire Prevention Services’ “Stop, Drop and Roll” program.
“Ask anyone
anywhere in the United States and they probably know ‘Stop, Drop and Roll,’ ”he
noted, hoping “Flip, Float, Follow” can catch on as well.
5. August
23, 2012
AccuWeather.com
“74 Confirmed
Drownings in the Warm Great Lakes this Year”
It is extremely important to be familiar with memorable
safety sayings, including "Flip,
Float, Follow" that can save your life if you find yourself
struggling in a drowning.
6. August
17, 2012
AccuWeather.com
“Before Summer
Ends, A New Must-Know Safety Tip For All Swimmers”
From there,
Benjamin made it to shore by following the Flip, Float and Follow strategy.
"FLIP,
FLOAT, FOLLOW"
The flip, float
and follow saying was created by the Michigan Sea Grant to be memorable and
help save people in a drowning incident.
Flip over onto
your back and figure out which way the current is flowing.
Float to keep
your head above water and conserve energy.
Follow the
current until it weakens. Rip currents dissipate quickly as they move away from
the shore into deeper water. Ride it out and swim perpendicular to the current
back to shore.
"We
believe flip, float and follow will work in any body of moving water. The whole
premise is as long as you're floating, you're alive. You calm yourself down and
follow the best action to get out of the water. We believe a lot of drowning is
... because people panic, they're in water, and it is the instinctive drowning
response," Benjamin said. "When someone goes into the instinctive
drowning response, they've got between 15 and 45 seconds before final
submersion."
The flip, float
and follow saying was modeled after the famous "stop, drop and roll."
7. August
19, 2012
Fox 28
“Mom of
drowning victim wants to prevent future drownings”
The best thing
to remember if you do get into trouble in the water, Flip, float, and
follow. Pratt said, "flip over onto your back, which puts you in a
better position to breathe. Float cause as long as you're floating you're
not drowning. See which way the current is taking you and follow the best
course out." Those tips are exactly what Forystek hopes to teach to
others. "We're surrounded by water and I think kids need to know
what they need to do."
8. August
19, 2012
WNDU
“Victim’s
family joins Surf Rescue Project to teach water safety”
Flip, Float,
and Follow. Those are the three statements a rescue project in New Buffalo is
teaching beach-goers and swimmers about water safety awareness across the Great
Lakes region. Cory McFry's mother was at Sunday's class. Her son, Cory
disappeared in July near the Portage Lakefront Riverwalk. He was swimming with
friends when he was swept away by currents. The class emphasizes a Flip,
Float, and Follow survival strategy meant to keep people’s minds from
panicking, and instead focusing on those three body movements. The class
is helpful, but residents have to sign up to get them, so Cory's said she's
pushing for programs like these to be taught in schools. "It should
be something that they push in the schools. It should be something they teach
in health class, or gym class or swimming class,” said Cory’s mother, Christine
Forystek. Or you know, and they should start from elementary school and work
their way up. You keep pushing it and you keep pushing it, and you're going to
save a life. At least one, if not, hopefully several."
9. August
15, 2012
Wall Street
Journal
Drownings Rise
in Heat Wave – Accidents Haunt Crowds Flocking to Midwest Beaches in Search of
a Cool Place
10. August
14, 2012
The Richard
Piet Show
WKZO Radio
“New Number on
Drownings in Great Lakes”
Updated rip
current survival strategy called Flip, Float, and Follow, created by the Michigan
Sea Grant. The standard for rip current survival, “Don’t panic. Swim
Parallel” [may not always work]… [Listen to pod cast. Lots of Flip,
Float, Follow info.]
11. August
10, 2012
NBC Chicago
12. August
10, 2012
Chicago Tribune
“August a
deadly month for Lake Michigan rip currents – Wind, waves, crowds can make a
dangerous combination”
13. August
7, 2012
ABC 7 Chicago
“Warning about
rip currents on Lake Michigan”
"If you're
a poor swimmer, continue floating. As long as you're floating, you're alive. As
long as you are struggling you are drowning," said Benjamin.
14. August
7, 2012
WGN 9 Chicago
“Report: 69
Great Lake drownings so far in 2012”
The Great Lakes
Surf Rescue Project recommends people know the signs of drowning and rip
currents. If you ever get caught in a dangerous current, experts say: flip,
float and follow.
15. August
7, 2012
WGN 9 Chicago
“Report: 69
Great Lake drownings so far in 2012”
16. July
26, 2012
Post-Tribune
“Our view:
Great lake can mean great peril”
The Great Lakes
Surf Rescue Project wants to help by educating people on ways to protect
themselves from drowning with a “Flip, Float, Follow” slogan similar to “Stop,
Drop and Roll.”
17. July
21, 2012
Northland News
Center
“Swimmers,
Rescue Officials Learn To Survive Rip Currents”
"If you're
ever caught in a rip current, flip, float and follow," Dave Benjamin,
Executive Director at the Great Lakes Surf Rescue Project, said. Dave Benjamin,
of the Great Lakes Rescure project says the advice is similar to the
"stop, drop, and roll" technique from the fire prevention services.
"Float to keep your head above water. Float to conserve your energy and
float to calm yourself down from the panic," Dave Benjamin, Executive
Director at the Great Lakes Surf Rescue Project, said. Experts say the key is
to asses which way the current is pulling you while floating. The standard for
rip current survival is to swim parallel with the shore, but Benjamin says that
may not always work and to swim against the movement of the water.
18. July
21, 2012
WDIO
“Water Safety
Class Educates Swimmers on Rip Currents”
If you find
yourself in a rip current, Pratt says you should float on your back and let the
current sweep you out. Once you're able to swim, he recommends swimming
parallel to the shore until you're able to swim out of the current and back to
safety.
19. July
10, 2012
Post-Tribune
“Jerry Davich:
Drowning latest reminder of lake’s deceptive ferocity”
It is working with
the Michigan Sea Grant’s “Flip, Float, Follow” rip current survival strategy,
to develop a national curriculum similar to the Fire Prevention Services’
“Stop, Drop and Roll” program. “Ask anyone anywhere in the United States
and they probably know ‘Stop, Drop and Roll,’” he aptly noted, hoping “Flip,
Float, Follow” can catch on as well. That’s a start, and hopefully more local
officials will consider working with his group. Or erecting memorial signs to
warn oblivious or overly daring swimmers.
20. July
10, 2012
WGN Chicago
“Emergency docs
concerned about rise in area drownings”
Flip, Float,
and Follow at end of news segment
21. July
2, 2012
WWMT
“Summer Water
Safety: Rip Currents”
"We
recommend you use flip, float and follow," Pratt said. "Flip over on
to your back and calm down because panic is really what kills people; float and
see what direction the current is taking you, and follow the safest course of
action back to shore."
22. June
23, 2012
MLIVE
Great Lakes
swimming demands keeping kids within an arm's reach, surf rescue group advises
He recommended
that all Great Lakes swimmers learn the "flip, float, follow"
technique to use if they do get caught in rip currents. That strategy
advises swimmers to flip onto their backs and float, allowing time to
calm down, then to follow the current long enough to learn which
direction it is carrying them-- not always straight out from shore. This gives
swimmers a chance to signal for help, or to swim at an angle out of the
current. "The biggest message is if you are floating, you're head's
above water and you're alive. Don't expend energy swimming against the
current," Benjamin said.
23. June
21, 2012
'Watching not
enough when beach packed'
Wood TV
NDPA's 2011
Lifesaver of the Year, Bob Pratt, of the Great Lakes Surf Rescue Project in
studio with WOOD TV 8 speaking about water safety. (NOTE: there are two videos.
Bob is on the second video. Second NOTE: Michigan Sea Grant created the Flip, Float,
Follow Rip Current Survival technique. GLSRP is advocating it.)
24. June
13, 2012
WGN 9 Chicago
Teen taken to
hospital after drowning incident
At the end of
the video clip, the current drowning stats (25) are mentioned, and there's a
phone interview with Bob Pratt and he acknowledges the Michigan Sea Grant’s
Flip, Float, Follow rip current survival campaign.
25. June
3, 2012
WNDU
Swimmers learn
how to handle rip currents at free class
26. May
30, 2012
Medill Reports
Chicago
Drowning spikes
82 percent over last year
“If you are
already in the water and unable to reach safe shore, try flip, float and
follow. The rescue project suggests that people flip over onto their backs and
then float to keep the head above water and conserve energy. The third step is
to follow or flow with the current to save energy. “Most current dissipates
quickly as people move away from the shore into deeper water,” Benjamin said.
“Ride it out, figure out which direction the water is flowing and swim
perpendicular to the current toward shore.”
27. May
31, 2012
ABC 57
Saving Lives
This Summer
It's also
important to educate your children about the waters and watch them for the
entirety of their time in the water. For instance, 10-year old Juliette
Benjamin has been swimming since she was three, and knows exactly what to do in
a rip current. "Flip, float and follow. Flip on your back to calm
yourself down. float to conserve energy, and follow the rip current to
determine which way it is carrying you then swim diagonally to the shore for
help" said Benjamin.
28. May
30, 2012
WKZP Radio
Interview
29. May
26, 2012
MLIVE
New advice for
rip current escape may help Great Lakes swimmers this summer
Swimmers caught
in the grip of a rip current may have a new weapon to fight back—an easy-
to-remember, easy-to-use strategy to get out of the current and allow retreat
to shore or rescue. "Flip, float and follow," advises the Great
Lakes Surf Rescue Group, water safety experts who have been studying ways to
help prevent drownings in the Great Lakes. Bob Pratt, educational
director for the group, said current advice for getting out of rip currents —
swim perpendicular to shore instead of against the current -- is generally
sound: Stay calm to conserve energy, swim out of the current in a direction
following the shoreline, then, when out, swim at an angle -- away from the
current -- toward shore.
Additional
links coming soon...
