It has become more popular to bring large inflatable toys or SUP boards to the beach, according to Trygfonden (Trygfonden is a Danish foundation promoting safety and preventing accidents). In the first days of the bathing season, Trygfonden’s lifeguards have carried out 24 regular first aid interventions and 149 preventive actions at bathing sites around Denmark, according to a press release issued on Thursday.
Coastal lifeguard chief Anders Myrhøj explains that it is especially beach visitors with inflatable toys or stand-up paddle boards, also known as SUP boards, who have had contact with the lifeguards. This is either because offshore winds have taken them too far out to sea, or because the lifeguards have warned them about the risk.
“Offshore winds have surprised many people here at the beginning of the summer,” says Anders Myrhøj. He also notes that SUP boards have become more common on the beaches in recent years.
“It is no longer just people with experience in water sports who use them. Mr. and Mrs. Denmark and their children also bring them along,” he says.
Myrhøj explains that some people panic and cannot make it back to the coast when they drift too far out.
This year, Trygfonden’s lifeguard towers are present at 34 beaches and harbor baths. The towers opened on June 28, and the aforementioned action figures cover the opening day and the following two days.