“Beaches are fun, but there can be hidden dangers, even on sunny, storm-free days. The safest beach day
begins with preparation, coastal visitors may travel to the beach only once or twice a year, making them
unfamiliar with local wave dynamics and currents,” recommends Bruckner Chase, CEO of Ocean Positive Foundation (@bruckneriii).

I Can Swim

“I can swim,” is a statement that is often made by many people around the world during the summer months.

But what does “I can swim” really mean?

Does it mean…

• I know how to swim in a backyard pool?
• I am a competitive pool swimmer?
• I am competent enough to save someone if necessary
• I know enough to avoid getting in the ocean under certain circumstances?
• I know how to handle myself in the waves, swell, currents, and tides.

Effective beach safety signs often advise beachgoers to “Stay Calm,” “Wave to Others,” “Swim Along the Shore” or “Come Back Through the Waves” without effectively conveying how impossible that may be for a majority of people who may find themselves in a life-threatening experience at or beyond the shore.

What Is Your Blue IQ?

How much do you really know about your own level of abilities and knowledge about swimming in normal and dangrous open water conditions?

While fatal outcomes may grab headlines, it is the massive number of non-fatal drownings, close calls, and life-changing traumatic injuries that require hospitalization. These injuries may include spinal cord or brain injuries which can have a lifelong impact on the person incurring the injury as well as family, friends and caregivers.

The United States Lifesaving Association has tracked almost 70,000 rescues per year between 2016 and 2022. While many of those incidents may have been non-life-threatening assists, every rescue experience can have a traumatic impact on victims, their direct community and the rescuers.

What Does Blue IQ Include?

• Knowledge of weather, waves and water conditions at the beach for recreation, training, and sport.
• What to look for in the 3 different beach zones: Safe Zones, Swash Zones, and Beyond the Surf.
• Recognizing and navigating, waves, ocean swell, currents, and tidal flows.
• How best to make a personal decision on whether to spend a day in the water – or on the sand. What to watch for and expect from weather, waves, and marine life.
• Knowledge that distances, speeds, temperatures and wave power in the water are a completely different human experience.
• Moving through the water and out of danger in the ocean is not the same as covering the same distance in a pool.
• Knowing and understanding local water and weather forecasts.
• The difference between land or pool fitness and confidence – and ocean swimming fitness and confidence.
• Possessing the ability to stay calm and make good decisions in risky or dangerous conditions.
• Being prepared, recognizing dangers, and using what you have to safely rescue or assist another person in trouble.

Chase always recommends, “Respect the ocean, stay situationally aware, and make the next right choices to protect yourself and others.”

NOAA is launching a new video series called Know Your Blue IQ in partnership with Chase and the Smithsonian Institution [view here].

Chase will appear on The Weather Channel on Saturday, August 9th at 7:20 pm and 9:20 pm EST trying to raise awareness for Blue IQ. He serves as the NOAA National Weather Service expert on beach and coastal safety under a Cooperative Research and Development Agreement, and the writer and host of the NOAA Ocean Today “Wave Safe with Bruckner Chase” video series
that was filmed in New Jersey, California, Hawaii and American Samoa.

© 2025 Daily News of Open Water Swimming

“to educate, enthuse, and entertain all those who venture beyond the shoreline“

A World Open Water Swimming Federation project.