The Great Lakes Sea Grant Network has received the 2011 Dairyland Surf Classic Award.
Larry “Longboard” Williams presented the award as part of an event last evening in Sheboygan that featured his remarks about the joys, and dangers, of Lake Michigan.
He talked of riding waves that sometimes crested eight feet, saying you knew you had a good day if you came home tired and covered in sand.
Williams said he has also looked into the eyes of a person struggling and begging for help in the chilly waters of the lake. He has brought people to safety, sometimes literally saving lives.
Sea Grant, Williams noted, raises awareness about the importance of water safety, and rip currents in particular. For that work, organizers of the classic designated the eight Sea Grant programs in the Great Lakes Network as this year’s award recipient.
Wisconsin Sea Grant staff conduct media interviews about rip currents to educate beach-goers. The program also distributes – at no cost to recipients – rip current posters, brochures and metal beach signs to communities along the state’s Great Lakes coasts.
Rip currents are stretches of water, generally narrow, that are moving straight away from shore. Swimming toward shore while caught in a rip current is like swimming upstream–even the strongest swimmers become exhausted and cannot escape their pull. In 2010, there were 29 rip current fatalities in the Great Lakes, which is three and a half times higher than in an average year. Swimmers are reminded to stay calm and swim parallel to shore to escape the narrow band of current.
This year, Wisconsin, Minnesota and Michigan Sea Grant are also launching a comprehensive beach safety program that will gather and distribute various beach condition and safety metrics. The service will provide water temperature, wave height, beach weather forecasts, rip current risk and bacteria monitoring results.
Williams and his twin brother Lee founded the Dairyland Surf Classic, now in its 23rd year. The classic is the world’s largest freshwater surfing event, attracting surfers from around the globe to Sheboygan.
The pair have made a difference, themselves, in water safety. One summer a few years ago, five children in the Sheboygan area drowned, and the city wanted to increase its efforts to promote beach safety. A friend told the brothers about Sea Grant, and Lee Williams made a call to the Madison Sea Grant office asking for help. Within two days they received a plethora of rip current signs and other materials. They took these materials to the mayor’s office, and soon the city pledged $70,000 to construct five stainless steel emergency call boxes along the Sheboygan shoreline. Each call box is accompanied by Sea Grant rip current signs and information.
