Swimming is great fun but safety must always be first

Residents and visitors are fully into the outdoor recreation mode as Marquette’s beaches are starting to draw big crowds.

There’s no doubt Superior’s chilly waters offers soothing relief when the air temperature rises into the 70s and 80s and above, but swimmers must be reminded of how dangerous those waters can also be.

That same stretch of beach in Marquette where crowds gather is where a strong rip current races through. The current and shifting sands have made the area between the shore at Shiras Park and Picnic Rocks particularly troublesome for swimmers.

Since the early 1960s, well over a dozen people have drowned in that area. In an effort to make the area safer for swimmers, the National Weather Service some years ago conducted a current monitoring project. The goal of the effor