Deep Dive Into Water Safety

Kauaʻi Community Radio - KKCR
  • 5.0 (1)
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Deep Dive Into Water Safety is a podcast dedicated to to one powerful truth: Drowning is preventable. Hosted by Kauaʻi waterperson Margaret Wright, the show features conversations with experts and community leaders from around the world who are working to save lives in and around the water. Together, we explore practical strategies to prevent drownings, educate swimmers, keiki, and parents, and create clear, culturally grounded messaging that makes a difference. Deep Dive is guided by Hawaiʻiʻs first statewide Water Safety Plan, a plan built on the realities that Hawaiʻi has the second highest drowning rate in the United States and that we can do better. Deep Dive Into Water Safety is produced on Kauaʻi by Kauaʻi Community Radio - KKCR, Kauaʻiʻs independent, non-commercial, listener-supported community radio station. kkcr.org.

  1. 6h ago

    Deep Dive: An Interview with Dr Jungwoo Choi

    Episode Notes Predicting Danger Before the Rescue Dr. Junwoo Choi on Coastal Science and Artificial Intelligence Can coastal science and artificial intelligence work together to predict dangerous rip currents before swimmers enter the water? In this episode of Deep Dive Into Water Safety, Dr. Junwoo Choi, a senior researcher at South Korea's Korea Institute of Civil Engineering and Building Technology, explores how advances in coastal research, numerical modeling, and machine learning are creating new possibilities for drowning prevention. A major incident at Haeundae Beach, where hundreds of swimmers were carried offshore in a single day, helped transform Dr. Choi's research into a public safety mission. He subsequently developed a rip current forecasting and warning system that has operated in South Korea since 2013 and now serves ten major beaches. Dr. Choi explains how scientists study the interaction of waves, tides, coastal topography, and seafloor conditions to understand where and when dangerous rip currents may develop. He describes how this physical understanding can be combined with artificial intelligence and machine learning to produce faster forecasts without repeatedly running complex numerical simulations. His collaboration with NOAA scientist Dr. Greg Dusek at Duck, North Carolina, represents an important step in connecting traditional coastal engineering research with emerging AI technology. Their work explores how machine learning models trained on physics-based simulations could improve the speed and practicality of rip current hazard prediction. The conversation also examines the distinction between forecasting dangerous conditions before they occur and using camera-based artificial intelligence to detect rip currents already developing. Combining these complementary approaches could eventually provide a more comprehensive picture of changing beach hazards. For Hawaiʻi, this research raises compelling questions. Could forecasting and real-time detection help lifeguards anticipate dangerous conditions? Could earlier warnings reach residents and visitors before they arrive at the beach? And what would it take to bring coastal scientists, AI researchers, ocean safety professionals, and policymakers together to develop and evaluate these systems? Dr. Choi emphasizes that even the most sophisticated technology cannot prevent drownings on its own. The real opportunity comes when scientific knowledge, artificial intelligence, and lifeguard experience work together to turn earlier warnings into effective prevention. The central message: The future of drowning prevention may depend not only on understanding the ocean, but on combining that knowledge with artificial intelligence to recognize danger earlier and protect lives. Support Deep Dive Into Water Safety by contributing to their tip jar: https://tips.pinecast.com/jar/deep-dive-into-water-safety

  2. Oct 22

    Deep Dive: An Interview Zack Edlao

    Episode Notes Beyond the Towers: How Maui Is Rethinking Ocean Safety Interview with Zack Edlao, Maui Ocean Safety Maui has 120 miles of coastline, but only 12 lifeguard towers serving nine beaches. So what happens when people head into the ocean beyond a lifeguard's reach? In this Deep Dive conversation, Maui Ocean Safety Chief Zack Edlao takes us behind the scenes of that challenge. He shares what it takes to protect residents and visitors in an environment that can change in seconds, from unguarded beaches and powerful rip currents to changing ocean conditions, limited coverage, and the need to reach people with safety information before they ever enter the water. Edlao talks about the role of education, community relationships, rescue watercraft, youth programs, and interagency training in preventing emergencies before they happen. The conversation also explores the proposed Black Rock lifeguard tower and the broader effort to strengthen ocean safety through collaboration among Hawaii’s county ocean-safety teams, fire, police, EMS, emergency management, the Coast Guard, DLNR, community organizations and local residents. The conversation also looks beyond Maui. Edlao discusses his upcoming visit to Okinawa to work with Taishi Otono, continuing the exchange of ideas and experience that can help strengthen ocean safety through learning across communities and regions. At its heart, this is a conversation about kuleana, the shared responsibility to understand the ocean, look out for one another, and help create safer shorelines across Hawaii. Ocean safety doesn't begin when the rescue starts. It begins before anyone gets in the water. Support Deep Dive Into Water Safety by contributing to their tip jar: https://tips.pinecast.com/jar/deep-dive-into-water-safety

  3. Sep 7

    Deep Dive: An Interview with Chris Harkness

    Episode Notes Beyond Swim Lessons: Building Lifelong Water Safety What does it really mean for a child to be safe around water? Chris Harkness, President of SafeSplash Swim School, talks about why learning to swim is only part of the answer. He explains the Safer Swimmer Promise, the self-rescue skills children should develop, and why becoming a capable swimmer takes time, repetition, and consistent practice. For many children, that process can take eight to twelve months rather than a few weeks of lessons. The conversation looks at how we define water competency and whether children are learning skills they can actually use if they unexpectedly find themselves in trouble. Harkness discusses the importance of teaching children how to respond independently in the water while recognizing that no level of swimming ability makes a child drown-proof. Swim lessons are also only one layer of protection. Active adult supervision, barriers around pools, CPR, emergency planning, and knowing how to respond when something goes wrong all play a role in preventing drowning and improving outcomes. A key part of the discussion focuses on what happens when swimmers leave the pool. Oceans, lakes, and rivers introduce waves, currents, changing depths, cold water, and other conditions that cannot be fully recreated in a controlled swimming environment. Harkness discusses this gap and the possibility of bringing more open-water preparation into SafeSplash programming. The interview also explores access. Scholarships, community partnerships, and other approaches can help make swimming instruction available to more families. But learning the skills is only the beginning. How well do children retain those skills months or years later, and how often do they need to practice to remain competent? The bigger question is not simply whether a child can swim. It is how we build a system that gives children the skills, judgment, experience, and layers of protection they need to be safer around water throughout their lives. Support Deep Dive Into Water Safety by contributing to their tip jar: https://tips.pinecast.com/jar/deep-dive-into-water-safety

  4. Sep 3

    Deep Dive: An Interview with Nathalie Martin

    Episode Notes Beyond the Plan: Turning Water Safety Into Action Drowning prevention does not begin with a swimming pool. It begins with knowledge, local leadership, and the willingness to use the resources a community already has. Nathalie Martin discusses how her work in aquatics, research, humanitarian settings, and drowning prevention led to the creation of the Swim Global Project, a network designed to connect people across a water safety field that can often be fragmented. By bringing together swim school owners, researchers, public health professionals, operators, and other practitioners, Swim Global helps share knowledge, strengthen collaboration, and identify practical approaches to prevention. Drawing on work in Bimini and Venezuela, Martin explains why effective water safety efforts must be built with communities rather than simply brought into them. In Bimini and other Caribbean communities, fear of the water, generational trauma, and long standing misinformation can influence swimming ability and attitudes toward the ocean. Sustainable change depends on community trust, local leadership, and building the capacity of people who will remain after outside experts leave. Martin also emphasizes that water safety education does not have to wait for access to a pool. Important lessons about hazards, supervision, rescue, decision making, and safe behavior can begin on land. Practical prevention means starting with what a community already has, using evidence and expertise where needed, and avoiding the assumption that every solution must be built from scratch. The conversation ultimately moves beyond creating water safety plans to the harder question of implementation. Plans are important, but their value comes from whether they lead to education, stronger local capacity, measurable action, and prevention in the real world. “Water safety plans should not simply sit on a shelf; they should become a pathway for action.” ** Support Deep Dive Into Water Safety by contributing to their tip jar: https://tips.pinecast.com/jar/deep-dive-into-water-safety

  5. Aug 21

    Deep Dive: An Interview with Kurt Lager

    Episode Notes August 16, 2026 Before the Rescue: Can Hawaiʻi Become the World’s Model for Water Safety? Chief Kurt Lager on the Future of Ocean Safety in Hawaiʻi What if the future of ocean safety begins before anyone needs rescuing? Honolulu Ocean Safety is entering a new era. Now operating as an independent department, it has a greater ability to shape its staffing, equipment, facilities, budget and future direction. In this episode of Deep Dive Into Water Safety, Chief Kurt Lager explains how that change could help Hawaiʻi move beyond responding to emergencies and reach people before an emergency happens. Better data is central to that vision. Through Watchtower, lifeguards can document not only rescues, but also the preventive actions they take every day. Those numbers can reveal patterns, guide resources and show a different measure of success: how many emergencies never happen because a lifeguard stepped in early. The conversation also confronts one of Hawaiʻi’s most urgent challenges: protecting visitors, particularly from snorkeling related fatalities. Lager discusses working with the Hawaiʻi Tourism Authority, airlines and other partners to deliver meaningful water safety information during booking, before arrival and throughout a visitor’s stay, rather than waiting until someone reaches the beach. But lifeguards cannot do this alone. Lager calls for stronger collaboration among counties, educators, government and community partners such as Nā Kama Kai and the Hawaiʻi Water Safety Coalition. The episode also explores why meaningful water safety education must return to Hawaiʻi’s schools so children grow up recognizing hazards, making safer decisions and developing water competency. The timing is especially meaningful. Lifeguard Appreciation Week runs August 17 through 23, 2026, while Duke Kahanamoku OceanFest takes place August 14 through 24, 2026. Together, they offer a powerful moment to recognize lifeguards, celebrate Hawaiʻi’s ocean culture and ask how that culture can become part of a stronger statewide system of prevention. The episode builds toward a larger question: Can Hawaiʻi become the model for water safety that the rest of the world follows? For Lager, that is exactly the opportunity ahead. “We should be a leader in water safety in the world. We should be the model that everyone else follows.” Chief Kurt Lager ** Support Deep Dive Into Water Safety by contributing to their tip jar: https://tips.pinecast.com/jar/deep-dive-into-water-safety

  6. Aug 14

    Deep Dive: An Interview with Kanesa Duncan Seraphin

    Episode Notes What Nine Championships Teach You About the Ocean: Kanesa Duncan Seraphin Nine-time Molokaʻi to Oʻahu prone paddleboard world champion Kanesa Duncan Seraphin has spent a lifetime learning from the ocean. A Hawaiʻi Waterman Hall of Fame inductee, marine scientist, educator, and host of the award winning Voice of the Sea, Kanesa brings a rare combination of elite ocean experience and scientific knowledge. Fresh off her historic ninth M2O victory, Kanesa joins Deep Dive Into Water Safety to talk about what decades on the water have taught her about preparation, judgment, risk, and respect for the ocean. She also discusses work on ciguatera and why she joined a leg of Kauaʻi Ocean Safety Chief Kalani Vierra’s Paddle for Life, a 100-mile journey around Kauai focused on water safety, drowning prevention, and community awareness. Throughout the conversation, one message keeps emerging: prevention requires more than telling people to “be careful.” Hawaiʻi needs better drowning and nonfatal incident data, stronger education, effective visitor communication, well supported and well-trained lifeguards, and practical safety systems that people can use. Lifeguards remain one of Hawaiʻi’s most important sources of ocean knowledge, yet the discussion highlights the need for greater recognition, staffing, training time, and investment in these frontline professionals. Ultimately, this episode asks a larger question: Can Hawaiʻi make ocean competency part of its culture of prevention? From classrooms and canoe clubs to airports, airlines, beaches, and lifeguard towers, the opportunity is to give residents and visitors the knowledge, skills, judgment, and respect needed to make better decisions around the ocean. It’s a conversation about much more than winning races. It’s about how experience, science, education, and connection to the ocean can help all of us make safer decisions in and around the water. Support Deep Dive Into Water Safety by contributing to their tip jar: https://tips.pinecast.com/jar/deep-dive-into-water-safety

  7. Aug 11

    Deep Dive: An Interview with Alissa Magrum and Norm Reitter

    Episode Notes July 30, 2026: Alissa Magrum paddles with Kalani Vierra for Paddle for Life The conversation focuses on drowning prevention through awareness, collaboration, and data-driven solutions. Alissa Magrum (NDPA) discusses her participation in the Paddle for Life event, a 100-mile paddle around Kauaʻi led by Kalani Vierra, OSB Chief for Kauai, to raise awareness and funds for water safety. Alissa shares both the physical experience and the emotional motivation behind her work, emphasizing that drowning is often overlooked until it directly impacts families A key theme is that drowning is a global, preventable issue that requires more public attention and everyday conversation The interview then shifts to innovation, featuring Norm Reitter's Water Ranger program, which uses volunteers and mobile technology to collect real-time data on water conditions, behaviors, and safety equipment. This data helps identify risks, improve placement of resources like rescue tubes and life jackets, and guide prevention strategies Overall, the discussion highlights: The power of community-driven awareness campaigns The need for better data to inform prevention efforts The importance of collaboration across organizations and regions to reduce drowning rates Support Deep Dive Into Water Safety by contributing to their tip jar: https://tips.pinecast.com/jar/deep-dive-into-water-safety

  8. Jul 20

    Deep Dive: An Interview with Sam Johnson

    Episode Notes Building Water Competence: What Hawaiʻi Can Learn from England Every child deserves the knowledge and confidence to make safe decisions around water. But what is the best way to teach it? This episode explores England's nationally coordinated approach to water safety education and the lessons it offers for Hawaiʻi. It examines why England developed a National Water Safety Competency Framework and National Water Safety Education Pathway, bringing leading organizations together to deliver consistent, evidence based water safety education from early childhood through secondary school. A central theme is the difference between teaching children to swim and developing true water competence, the knowledge, skills, judgment, and behaviors needed to recognize hazards, assess risk, make informed decisions, and respond safely in and around water. The discussion explores how England is evaluating classroom and lifeguard led education, the importance of reinforcing water safety throughout a child's education, and the challenge of determining whether increased knowledge translates into safer behavior and fewer drownings. The episode also examines emerging challenges, including climate change, heatwaves, flooding, storms, and changing coastal conditions. It highlights how these issues are being incorporated into school education, public awareness campaigns, and outreach efforts before periods of increased water risk. Finally, the conversation considers practical ideas that could be adapted for Hawaiʻi, including proactive lifeguard engagement with beach users, measuring prevention activities alongside rescues, improving data collection on near misses and nonfatal drownings, and building on successful community programs such as Nā Kama Kai. Whether you're a parent, educator, lifeguard, policymaker, or simply interested in drowning prevention, this episode demonstrates how a coordinated, evidence based approach to water safety education can help build lifelong water competence and save lives. ** Support Deep Dive Into Water Safety by contributing to their tip jar: https://tips.pinecast.com/jar/deep-dive-into-water-safety

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About

Deep Dive Into Water Safety is a podcast dedicated to to one powerful truth: Drowning is preventable. Hosted by Kauaʻi waterperson Margaret Wright, the show features conversations with experts and community leaders from around the world who are working to save lives in and around the water. Together, we explore practical strategies to prevent drownings, educate swimmers, keiki, and parents, and create clear, culturally grounded messaging that makes a difference. Deep Dive is guided by Hawaiʻiʻs first statewide Water Safety Plan, a plan built on the realities that Hawaiʻi has the second highest drowning rate in the United States and that we can do better. Deep Dive Into Water Safety is produced on Kauaʻi by Kauaʻi Community Radio - KKCR, Kauaʻiʻs independent, non-commercial, listener-supported community radio station. kkcr.org.

Information

  • Creator
    Kauaʻi Community Radio - KKCR
  • Years Active
    2025 - 2026
  • Episodes
    43
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © Copyright 2026
  • Show Website
    Deep Dive Into Water Safety