Perceived risks and its relation to bathing rate at a high energy surf beach in France

Background: despite the many benefits gained from contact with water, bathing in the ocean is a risky activity. To properly analyse these risks, beachgoers exposure is still a poorly understood component of the risk. In this study, we investigate the decision of beachgoers to enter the water at a high-energy supervised beach in southwest France, where strong rip currents and heavy shore-break waves can discourage beachgoers to enter the water.Methods: We estimated regression models based on a dataset which combine data on personal factors collected by means of an on-site survey (N=722) with marine and weather data collected at nearby stations.Results: The beachgoers global bathing risk perception is influenced by both environmental (i.e. wave height and wave period) and personal factors (i.e. beachgoer’s age, confidence in escaping from a rip current and drowning risk concerns in general). By comparison, insolation and outdoor temperature are the primary environmental factors influencing respondent decision. Tide level and wave height only affect bathing rate when the beachgoer's personal variables are not taken into account in the model. Self-assessment of swimming ability in the ocean and individual risk perception are the two statistically significant human predictors of bathing rate. When perceptions specific to rip currents and shore break risks are simultaneously introduced into the regression models, only rip current perceived risk has a significant influence on the bathing probability.Conclusion: Our results provide new avenues for communication by highlighting a number of beach safety issues still poorly understood by the general public. As regards risk forecasting, this research fills a gap by refining our ability to assess exposure by pinpointing the proportion of beachgoers who enter the water.