STELIOS TSALIKIS
Panhellenic School of Lifeguards
Generally, the floating swim platforms are useful and necessary for the beaches. Based on my experience, I saw that swimmers use them to catch a breath, especially, the elderly who are used to swimming in the open sea, instead of swimming parallel to the shore. That’s why in Chios we installed one of the floating swim platforms at a 70 meter distance from shore. I have 3 incidents in mind that I would like to share with you:
At 9:45 in the morning, approximately 15 minutes before the shift of the lifeguard Spyros Seitanidis from the Panhellenic Lifeguard School starts, a woman, 55 years old, got a cramp while swimming at a 100 meter distance from the shore. The woman managed to reach the floating swim platform, held on it for about 15 minutes until the lifeguard arrived to do his shift and noticed her. If it wasn’t for the floating swim platform, she would have probably lost her life.
Approximately at 19:40 at a beach, where there was Lifeguard who was off-shift, a migrant swimmer, who swam and panicked as he was far way from the shore and was not a good swimmer, was detected. He managed to hold on the floating swim platform until I personally noticed him, while I accidentally was crossing by the beach.
Congratulations for this useful tool, support, for the breath, the piece of “land” that floats in the water and may save one, even two human lives.”