Perhaps it was the cooler than anticipated weather.
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Or maybe it was Wollongong City Council's directive to make beach visits short but sweet.
Regardless, the official start of the new swimming season was quieter than usual on the city's 17 beaches.
It was also a similar case at Shellharbour and Kiama beaches.
The red and yellow flags were raised on Saturday for the first time to signal the start of the new swim season.
But Wollongong Council made it clear that the upcoming swim season would focus on speed rather than socialising.
"We're really encouraging our residents to use their time at the beach for exercise and a mental wellbeing check by being outdoors rather than an opportunity for a lengthy catch up with friends," Wollongong Lord Mayor Gordon Bradbery said.
"While the current Public Health Order allows five adults who are fully vaccinated to meet up, it's best that the beach isn't your go-to location - there are plenty of other outdoor spaces in the city to do this.
"Plus, given the COVID-19 numbers we're seeing in Wollongong I think we need to be really mindful that this isn't necessarily a time for hanging around.
"We should be continuing to keep the time we're out and about to an absolute minimum while we get our community's vaccination rates up, and the number of people with COVID-19 down."
On Saturday Council lifeguards patrolled all 17 beaches, including Port Kembla, whose club voted earlier in September not to raise the flags because of safety concerns.
All five Surf Life Saving Illawarra (SLSI) support operations crews on RWC JETSKI were also on duty.
SLSI duty officers are also rostered on to provide support and respond to any coastal incidents of emergencies.
Volunteer lifesavers will start patrolling duties on Sunday.
They will be joined by three SLSI UAV drones operating out of Austinmer, Coledale and Stanwell Park beaches.
Surf Life Saving NSW President, George Shales said volunteers were well prepared to provide a safe environment for beachgoers.
"NSW is blessed to have beautiful beaches, with many of them patrolled by Surf Life Saving NSW volunteers and our 129 clubs,' he said.
"We have invested significantly over time in member education and training to upskill our members and ensure our beaches are as safe as they can be, but we are also imploring the public to know their limits and to avoid placing themselves or their families in harm's way unnecessarily."
The warning follows the release of the NSW and National Coastal Safety Reports which detailed an alarming increase in drownings in Australia, including some findings around a spike in incidents and drownings that have occurred following the relaxation of Covid-19 restrictions.
Our real fear is that the risk of coastal drownings will increase coming into summer, as restrictions ease and people flock to the coast for recreation or holidays.
- urf Life Saving NSW President, George Shales
"Our real fear is that the risk of coastal drownings will increase coming into summer, as restrictions ease and people flock to the coast for recreation or holidays," Mr Shales said.
"The safety of our members is paramount, however we are concerned that if lifesavers are not present on our beaches, lives will be lost.
"While it's not an ideal start to the season in many ways, we are confident the measures we have in place will enable lifesavers to continue to provide frontline beach safety services safely."
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Agron Latifi
Wollongong born and bred. I love reporting about the Illawarra region and have been doing it for more than 20 years. I've moved into sport recently after covering the education round for the last five plus years for the Illawarra Mercury. It's been a great pleasure.
Wollongong born and bred. I love reporting about the Illawarra region and have been doing it for more than 20 years. I've moved into sport recently after covering the education round for the last five plus years for the Illawarra Mercury. It's been a great pleasure.
