- December 14, 2025
Despite more than 20 rescues, the beach remains unstaffed until May.
Rip currents started building just south of the pier Wednesday, April 4, in Flagler Beach, causing more than 20 people to be rescued over the following three days.
Lifeguards are not officially on duty until May, but because of the conditions, Tom Gillin, Flagler Beach recreation director, and two other guards monitored the beach throughout the weekend.
“I honestly think if we weren’t there last week, and if the surfers weren’t there last week, there would’ve been drownings,” Gillin said. He added that the combination of unusually warm water, clean surf and Spring Break caused a perfect storm for an unstaffed beach.
“There was a long-distance swell, and the winds were offshore, so it looked clean and safe, but the way the sandbars were set up, caused rips,” said Steve Denvir, one of several surfers who assisted in pulling swimmers to safety.
To an untrained eye, rip currents can be hard to spot. Gillin said beachgoers should look for a break in the sandbar: The deep water that funnels through the middle is the rip current. In a rip current, waves break earlier and whitewash runs longer.
If a swimmer is caught in a rip current, the proper thing to do is swim parallel to the shore.
“It’s scary because natural instinct tells you to swim the straightest line to the shore, but that’s kind of like swimming upstream,” Gillin said.
If guards are on duty, Gillin said a swimmer should tread water, if able. Relax, conserve energy and signal a lifeguard.
But beachgoers are reminded that lifeguards are not officially on duty yet.
“We don’t want to advertise that we have guard on duty, because we don’t. That gives people a false sense of security,” Gillin said.
Eventually, Gillin said he hopes to staff yearlong lifeguards, but that is a long way out.
“It’s all about money,” he said. “We need money to put guards on the beach and we have a lot of taxpayers who don’t want their taxes raised and others who say it is worth it. We need guards on the beach to make it safe.”
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