footprints: answers

7: surf hazards

teacher's notes

  1. This worksheet is relevant to any activities that take place on, in or around surf beaches or bays. Such activities might include surfing (in its various forms), swimming, snorkelling, bushwalking or rock-pooling.
  2. See also notes for answers to Worksheet #6 ("River hazards").

hazard risk/s potential loss
e.g. sharks surfing on your own after dark near a river mouth wearing Metro-Man after-shave being taste-tested by a white pointer
1) lightning staying outdoors during a thunderstorm; (even worse) sheltering under a boogie-board electrocution
2) steep cliffs being too close to the top or bottom of a cliff-face

severe impact injuries from you falling on something or something falling on you

[could also be spinal injury, or getting wet or breaking bones (depending on what you fall onto)]

3) changing tides being in an exposed location & not being aware of changing tide (esp. rock anglers)

fatigue; drowning (1)

[In earlier print runs, the option "getting wet or breaking bones (depending on what you fall onto)" wrongly appeared in this column.]

4) deadly marine stingers

entering the water in Northern Australia between

October & April

severe pain; respiratory failure
5) rough surf &/or dumping waves just being out there in the first place; (even worse) being out there with your little nephew or niece swallowing lots of sea-water; being pile-driven into the sand
6) rips not swimming between the flags; boogie-boarding without flippers

fatigue; drowning (2)

[could also be being swept a long distance from the shore resulting in (at least) severe inconvenience]

7) wind chill not wearing proper clothing/gear rapidly losing body heat [possibly resulting in hypothermia]
8) wind speed (in open water) paddling out or sailing when it is too windy; not staying close to the shore being swept a long distance from the shore resulting in (at least) severe inconvenience
9) out-of-control surf craft surfing/swimming in a crowded area; not constantly looking back out to sea spinal injury (1)
10) shallow water jumping or diving into the water without first checking the depth spinal injury (2)

additional activities

  1. Investigate standard surf lifesaving signals for a) get out of the water immediately; b) move left or right (in the water); c) any others from the surf lifesaving manual (or diving manuals) that may be adaptable to outdoor education programs.
  2. Discuss ways of identifying rips. Students could draw rips, showing frothy discoloured water, etc.
  3. Make a case study of the 5 drownings at Gunnamatta in 1998 (or a similar incident). Go to http://www.lifesaving.com.au/library/beachSafeSummer2004.pdf & scroll down.
  4. Visit a surf venue & identify hazards.

 

 

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