Pandemic restrictions forcing the public to stay close to home and big surf are behind a "staggering" number of drownings over the summer, according to an Illawarra Life Saver.
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Surf Life Saving Illawarra spokesman Anthony Turner said 49 drownings around Australia's coastline should serve as a warning for swimmers to look for patrolled beaches and swim between the flags.
"We had an extraordinary year with the weather," he said.
"Especially during all our peak days, like the Australia Day long weekend where the Illawarra saw more rescues occur than the whole of last season."
"The weather conditions [throughout summer] on Sundays and public holidays have all been challenging surf, it's been a lot larger, which has contributed to a high amount of incidents and rescues."
Mr Turner said flash-rips and currents, a lot of water movement and large crowds was a recipe for disaster.
SLS would put on extra resources when large crowds were expected at beaches, but sadly most drownings occurred at non-patrolled areas or after hours.
In November (just before the season commenced), a Western Sydney man died at Woonona Beach trying to save his son and niece after they were caught in a rip, just 40 minutes after life savers went off duty.
At the time, members of Woonona Board Riders helped them keep them afloat in the water until lifeguards on duty at neighbouring beaches arrived.
"There's been a staggering amount of drownings ... we just ask people to do their homework," Mr Turner said. "If we can't see you, we can't save you."
This summer's drownings also included five rock fisherman deaths, just a few weeks apart, at Hill 60 in Port Kembla.
In mid-February two fishermen, aged 31 and 38, were swept off rocks near the popular lookout. Both drowned. A third fisherman, 42, was also knocked into the sea but survived.
Just three weeks earlier three other men - two in their 40s, and one aged 69 - drowned. They had been with a group of people standing on the rocks when a large wave hit and swept them into the surf.
Meantime, startling figures from Royal Life Saving Australia show there were 86 drownings in total across the nation (including coastal and inland deaths) during the summer season - up 30 per cent on the previous summer.
Once more males accounted for the vast bulk of drownings at Australian beaches, inland waterways including rivers and lakes, and public and private swimming pools.
Of the 86 deaths, 69 involved males, a consistent, long-term trend in Australia's drowning statistics.
Men aged 35-64 accounted for close to half of all the deaths (40 per cent), and men aged 18-34, a third (29 per cent). The report did not attempt to explain why the gender gap on drownings is so vast.
Almost 60 per cent of the drownings happened at beaches, about 30 per cent in inland waterways, and 10 per cent in public and home swimming pools.
A third of the drownings were people who'd been swimming or engaged in other water recreations. About 15 per cent of the deaths involved boats or other craft.
And about a third resulted from "other" pursuits, including fishing, rock fishing, jumping into water and attempting rescues.
- with Australian Associated Press