Sowal Visitors, how did you learn about the beach flag system?

How do you sign up for the daily texts that let you know the flag of the day? What a great service!

call 850-267-1298 to get info if it is not available on www.swfd.org.

I can't imagine not seeing the flag meanings , every book you get at checkin has it,rentals usually have it posted on the fridge.Some people think they are smarter than the next guy and nothing tragic will happen ---it does happen. Sorry about the two this past week. How terrible for the deaf boys trying to get help for their friend.

You could stop every car driving in to Walton and give them a beach flag flyer and I doubt it would save anyone. I would love to be wrong. If I am and you feel that education can save lives then we should welcome the county's efforts to educate, including building a visitor center.

This thread is not politically motivated. If education will not help, do you have any thoughts that would? This thread could save lives, that is the mission.

@ paula... I got the text alert number from www.swfd.org. I texted a number and it sent me a message and asked how many days I would be visiting I put in the number of days and got the messages the duration of the trip. Or you had the option of getting them every day.

The last day I got my message when we were comimg home I got a nice message saying thanks for visiting SoWal and travel safe. Very cool!

@ paula... I got the text alert number from www.swfd.org. I texted a number and it sent me a message and asked how many days I would be visiting I put in the number of days and got the messages the duration of the trip. Or you had the option of getting them every day.

The last day I got my message when we were comimg home I got a nice message saying thanks for visiting SoWal and travel safe. Very cool!

I love SWFD........thank you for posting Florida Fever!

I agree with everything sunspotbaby wrote. I'm not surprised people are shocked to hear someone actually drowned, because I think the news rarely makes it from the local media outlets to the visitors when that happens.

I wonder if a counter-type warning would help. Something like the following posted on beach accesses:

Number of drownings last year: 10
Number of drownings this year: 2
Number of drownings this month: 2
Number of drownings this week: 2

Flags are helpful, but they're also abstract, like so many other warnings in our lives. Most people are going to think they don't really apply to them because that's how we get through of our days. Actual numbers of dead produces a more visceral reaction that can't as easily be discounted.

I also think it would be helpful to have the occasional free classes during the peak season on how to survive in the surf. Rip current survival workshops. Classes where small groups get in the water and experience the surf and maybe even an actual rip current and how to get out of it with trained lifeguards instructing, with visitors encouraged to join in.

So far, from the responsed here, it seems that most visitors are aware of the flag system, apparantly that information is not enough. Something else needs to be done. Any suggestions?

From all the comments, the problem is obviously that visitors are somewhat to very aware of the flag system, but because of the one week nature of their vacation, there is no importance or urgency assigned to really paying attention to it. How to really overcome this is worrisome.

Our friend from Naples said they don't have a flag system there, and they don't have many drownings. She is finding this whole discussion interesting. Are the water conditions different there? Or the visitors more cautious? I am curious.

Interesting. We used to not have drownings here either , it seems after Hurricane Opal in 1995 the sea floor changed and has resulted in more rip tides. Or, maybe there are more visiotrs now and that has increased the drowning numbers. Regardless, there is a problem and any drowning is unacceptable if it can be prevented.

The Sheriff Dept. issues citations for those that ignore double red flags, if they are caught and with 26 miles of beach shore, it's difficult patrol. Do you think a higher fine, one with teeth in it, will help or drive visitors away?

Maybe the flags aren't completely useless. Maybe (probably?) they stop a lot of people from going into the water. The problem is that you only see the people that disregarded them.

I just returned from our walkover and double red flags are flying. For once, there are no people in the water for as far as I could see in either direction.

I find the flags very helpful and I think they save lives. Even if some idiots do ignore them, many heed them.

I just now put those numbers in my phone, won't be going until Sept. ,by then I would have forgotten them. Thanks for posting the info.

I have been traveling to beaches since I was little and learned that there are different flags and places for important information to be posted. (I often travel during hurricane season, so it pays to be "weather aware".) Made my first trip to SoWal (Miramar Beach) May 2012. We saw the flags on the drive to our condo and there on the little bulletin board in our rental was the legend. Easy enough to follow. When we went to the beach on the first day we took the time to read the details of the various flags and knew what to expect. By the end of the week I had found info on TV and internet for daily beach conditions. I grew up in a tourist area (near a very large lake) and I just think *some* people check their common sense at the door when they are on vacation. Unfortunately - that causes something that should be fun to end in tragedy.

Does anyone know what happened to the Beach Ambassador program? I think reading a sign or seeing a magnet in the room is all well and good. However, having someone walk up to visitors to give out a brochure and point out the dangers might be a more direct approach. We need to do whatever it takes to inform our guests and save lives.

We learned about the flags by reading the large sign at the beach access. There has also been info on the system in every rental house we have vacationed in. I do remember a few summers ago a volunteer (?) asking beach goers if they were familiar with the flag system and also asking if they adhered to the warnings.

Note to Walton TDC: bring back the "Seemore the Safety Crab" TV commercials on local channels and cable...quickly.

Kids and parents seemed to pay attention to them, whick helped them understand the flag system. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe the Seemore TV commercials were all replaced with beach safety commercials featuring a radio talk show host from Ohio named Brian Wilson...a talking head who comes across as boring and does nothing to get the kids' attention.

On a positive note, let's give the SWFD kudos and gratitude for flying double-red flags the past several days. Bay and Okaloosa chose to fly single red flags part of those days. We took a quick survey today and 100% of the parents felt our all of beach counties should not hesitate to fly double-red more often to help keep visitors safe.

I agree with everything sunspotbaby wrote. I'm not surprised people are shocked to hear someone actually drowned, because I think the news rarely makes it from the local media outlets to the visitors when that happens.

I wonder if a counter-type warning would help. Something like the following posted on beach accesses:

Number of drownings last year: 10
Number of drownings this year: 2
Number of drownings this month: 2
Number of drownings this week: 2

Flags are helpful, but they're also abstract, like so many other warnings in our lives. Most people are going to think they don't really apply to them because that's how we get through of our days. Actual numbers of dead produces a more visceral reaction that can't as easily be discounted.

I also think it would be helpful to have the occasional free classes during the peak season on how to survive in the surf. Rip current survival workshops. Classes where small groups get in the water and experience the surf and maybe even an actual rip current and how to get out of it with trained lifeguards instructing, with visitors encouraged to join in.

I think that most people know the flags are for a reason, though they may not always know what color means what. On-going education is definitely needed! Unfortunately, most messages need to hit home. Letting people know the realities of ignoring the flags....letting people know when there is a drowning...is also paramount.

Note to Walton TDC: bring back the "Seemore the Safety Crab" TV commercials on local channels and cable...quickly.

Kids and parents seemed to pay attention to them, whick helped them understand the flag system. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe the Seemore TV commercials were all replaced with beach safety commercials featuring a radio talk show host from Ohio named Brian Wilson...a talking head who comes across as boring and does nothing to get the kids' attention.

On a positive note, let's give the Walton TDC kudos and gratitude for flying double-red flags the past several days. Bay and Okaloosa chose to fly single red flags part of those days. We took a quick survey in Fired Up today and 100% of the parents felt our all of beach counties should not hesitate to fly double-red more often to help keep visitors safe.

I thought the South Walton Fire Dept. determines the beach conditions, flag changes, and trains the lifeguard staff, not the TDC? I did a quick search and can't find where the TDC participates here, other than share the flag safety stuff. Do they help fund the lifeguard program?

I was discussing this with my wife tonight. If I went to mars and there was a cave....if it had a red flag I would not go...if it had a yellow flag I would proceed with caution...if it had a green flag I would proceed with no worries...we both learned this at any early age as I am sure everyone on this forum did too.

I agree that other than the purple WTF?e, it seems like the matched beach flags with stoplight colors should make sense at some sort of gut level. But it's apparently not the case.

I have taken to calling the renters at our cottages when they arrive to welcome them, to find out if they need anything and if everything's OK at the cottages, and to remind them to take the flag system seriously. I let them know that in my experience (from what I've read on this board over the years), it's usually adult men who get in trouble, in part because they heroically go in the water to save others who ignored the flag system or because they wrongly think they're strong enough to avoid getting pulled by the rip tides. I spoke with guests today and they said they went to the beach, stayed out of the water, but there were plenty of people in the ocean despite the double red flags.

EXCELLENT! I will put that in the cottages as part of the onepage info I will give to renters when they check in (e.g., on the refrigerator - maybe I'll put it on a fridge magnet).

I thought the South Walton Fire Dept. determines the beach conditions, flag changes, and trains the lifeguard staff, not the TDC? I did a quick search and can't find where the TDC participates here, other than share the flag safety stuff. Do they help fund the lifeguard program?

The TDC does help fund the lifeguards. SWFD determines which flag to fly.