Professor Rob Brander: Bass Coast beaches are beautiful and unforgiving.
By Catherine Watson
BASS Coasters may be better than our city cousins at spotting dangerous surf, but most of us are still guessing. That's not good enough on a coastline that has claimed 32 lives in the past decade.
That stark figure, five times the Victorian LGA average, is why Bass Coast Shire Council is bringing one of the world’s leading rip current experts to Woolamai Beach Surf Life Saving Club this weekend.
Professor Rob Brander, better known as Dr Rip, has spent 25 years studying the science of rip currents and the psychology of swimmers. On Saturday he’ll pour bright, environmentally safe dye into the surf at Cape Woolamai to show, in real time, how swiftly a rip can funnel swimmers – and paddlers –out to sea.
BASS Coasters may be better than our city cousins at spotting dangerous surf, but most of us are still guessing. That's not good enough on a coastline that has claimed 32 lives in the past decade.
That stark figure, five times the Victorian LGA average, is why Bass Coast Shire Council is bringing one of the world’s leading rip current experts to Woolamai Beach Surf Life Saving Club this weekend.
Professor Rob Brander, better known as Dr Rip, has spent 25 years studying the science of rip currents and the psychology of swimmers. On Saturday he’ll pour bright, environmentally safe dye into the surf at Cape Woolamai to show, in real time, how swiftly a rip can funnel swimmers – and paddlers –out to sea.
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“When people see how quickly a rip can move that dye from the shoreline out to the deep water, it really hits home that you need to take care in these coastal environments,” he says.
Professor Brander grew up in suburban Toronto, far from Australia’s surf culture. As a kid he holidayed on Toronto beaches during Canada’s short summer. Later, as a student, he studied beaches along the Atlantic coast and the Great Lakes before backpacking to Australia in the early 1990s. The turning point came at Bronte Beach. |
Science of the Surf, Saturday, 7 March 2026, 11am–2pm. Woolamai Beach Surf Life Saving Club. Life Saving Victoria, Victoria Police, Ambulance Victoria and Phillip Island Nature Parks will be on hand. Includes lunch and family-friendly beach activities.Free community event. Book at trybooking. |
“A student from Sydney Uni pointed out a rip current, which I couldn’t see, even though I’d been studying them out of books,” he recalls. “That got me interested.”
He went on to complete a PhD on the physics and behaviour of rip currents, later becoming a surf lifesaver himself. But it was a tragedy in New Zealand that gave his research urgency.
“There were some shouts from offshore. A man had drowned in a very gentle rip current,” he says quietly. “It was such a lovely, beautiful day with small waves. It should never have happened if he’d only had a bit of knowledge.
“I thought, well, I’ve got this knowledge about rips that I could get out to the public to help them understand how they work to try and reduce drownings. And that’s where it started.”
Rips are the number-one hazard on Australian beaches. Woolamai Beach Surf Life Saving Club president Jason Close sees the dangers firsthand.
“As surf lifesavers, we see the impact of rips and changing conditions every day,” he says. “Understanding how the surf works can make a real difference. This event gives families the knowledge they need to make safer decisions at the beach.”
He went on to complete a PhD on the physics and behaviour of rip currents, later becoming a surf lifesaver himself. But it was a tragedy in New Zealand that gave his research urgency.
“There were some shouts from offshore. A man had drowned in a very gentle rip current,” he says quietly. “It was such a lovely, beautiful day with small waves. It should never have happened if he’d only had a bit of knowledge.
“I thought, well, I’ve got this knowledge about rips that I could get out to the public to help them understand how they work to try and reduce drownings. And that’s where it started.”
Rips are the number-one hazard on Australian beaches. Woolamai Beach Surf Life Saving Club president Jason Close sees the dangers firsthand.
“As surf lifesavers, we see the impact of rips and changing conditions every day,” he says. “Understanding how the surf works can make a real difference. This event gives families the knowledge they need to make safer decisions at the beach.”
"There are different types of rips, different visual signatures. It's tricky and it takes practice." |
“We’ve done plenty of surveys showing people pictures of rip currents,” Professor Brander says. “A lot of people who say they do know often get it wrong.
“There are different types, different visual signatures. It’s tricky and it takes practice. Unless you’re a surfer or a lifesaver, you just don’t get much rip current education.”
He says Bass Coast’s beaches are breathtaking, sparsely populated and unforgiving.
In January 2024, four visitors to Phillip Island, members of an extended family group, drowned when they were caught in a rip at Forrest Caves. It was Victoria’s deadliest drowning incident in almost 20 years.
Bass Coast has wrestled for years with how to warn visitors about its dangerous beaches. Warning signs dot the coast. Red and yellow patrol flags mark the safest swimming areas on patrol days.
Brander’s research suggests signage alone doesn’t cut through, particularly for people who didn’t grow up around surf beaches.
“A lot of people don’t even know what the red and yellow flags mean. It’s not their fault. Obviously we haven’t done a good enough job promoting it to the people who need it the most.”
Educating children is relatively straightforward, he says, but educating adults is a challenge.
That’s where events like Science of the Surf come in. The goal is simple: to give people the tools to recognise danger before they step into it.
“There are different types, different visual signatures. It’s tricky and it takes practice. Unless you’re a surfer or a lifesaver, you just don’t get much rip current education.”
He says Bass Coast’s beaches are breathtaking, sparsely populated and unforgiving.
In January 2024, four visitors to Phillip Island, members of an extended family group, drowned when they were caught in a rip at Forrest Caves. It was Victoria’s deadliest drowning incident in almost 20 years.
Bass Coast has wrestled for years with how to warn visitors about its dangerous beaches. Warning signs dot the coast. Red and yellow patrol flags mark the safest swimming areas on patrol days.
Brander’s research suggests signage alone doesn’t cut through, particularly for people who didn’t grow up around surf beaches.
“A lot of people don’t even know what the red and yellow flags mean. It’s not their fault. Obviously we haven’t done a good enough job promoting it to the people who need it the most.”
Educating children is relatively straightforward, he says, but educating adults is a challenge.
That’s where events like Science of the Surf come in. The goal is simple: to give people the tools to recognise danger before they step into it.