Ryan Jennings threw his 12-year-old son onto the beach and lifted his 9-year-old daughter above the surf until the ocean took him.
That was at Juno Beach, Florida, on a weekend when lifeguards pulled more than 70 people from the water up and down the Atlantic coast.
Ryan Jennings was 46 years old, from North Yarmouth, Maine, on a family vacation – and he didn't make it home.
Florida Issued Rip Current Warnings and Two Men Drowned Anyway
The National Weather Service had issued a high rip current risk for the entire Central Florida Atlantic coast – the Daytona stretch, the Space Coast, the Treasure Coast – with waves running three to four feet and authorities telling people not to enter the water.
In Hollywood, ocean rescue teams pulled 33 people from the surf across 20 separate rescues over the weekend.
Fort Lauderdale logged roughly 14 rescues on Saturday alone.
At Pompano Beach, a man in his 50s went unresponsive in the water Sunday night.
Lifeguards pulled him out, performed CPR on the sand, and rushed him to Broward Health North.
He was pronounced dead at the hospital.
"Despite extensive lifesaving efforts, the patient was subsequently pronounced deceased at the hospital," the city confirmed.
Two men dead in one weekend.
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Seventy others survived because a lifeguard happened to be close enough.
The Lifeguard Shortage That Has Left Florida Beaches Unguarded for Years
COVID didn't just shut down restaurants and schools.
It wiped out the lifeguard certification pipeline – and that pipeline has never fully recovered.
The in-person training programs that produce certified ocean rescue guards require pool time, physical assessments, and timed water drills.
Those programs were canceled across the country in 2020 and 2021 while bureaucrats decided what was and wasn't essential.
Lifeguarding was not essential.
The result is a staffing gap that Florida counties have been scrambling to close ever since – with higher wages, bonuses, and recruiting events that are still coming up short.
Volusia County – home to Daytona Beach – entered this spring break season still short of full staffing after raising starting pay to $19 an hour and offering $750 bonuses.
Here is the number that matters: every single one of the nine drownings in Volusia County in 2024 happened in an unguarded section of beach.
Fort Lauderdale Ocean Rescue Lieutenant Mitchell Mccready put it plainly after this weekend: "We can't stress it enough, don't swim in an unguarded area."
That sentence is doing a lot of work.
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It is acknowledging, without saying it directly, that there are stretches of Florida beach during spring break where nobody is watching.
Florida Has More Rip Current Deaths Than Any State in America
Florida accounts for more rip current deaths than any other state in the country – 143 total in national records.
In 2021, the state recorded 28 fatalities, the highest single-year total in 12 years.
Nationwide, rip currents kill roughly 100 Americans every year and account for more than 80 percent of all beach rescues.
These currents move at 1 to 2 feet per second on average and have been measured at 8 feet per second.
No swimmer beats that.
The ones who survive are the ones who know to swim parallel to shore until the current releases them, then angle back to the beach.
Most people who die don't know that – or they panic and fight the current until they have nothing left.
Ryan Jennings Did Everything Right
That's the part of this story that doesn't get said enough.
Ryan Jennings wasn't ignoring flags and stumbling into danger.
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He was a father in the water with his children when the current took them.
He threw his 12-year-old son to safety on the beach.
Then he held his 9-year-old daughter above the water until the ocean claimed him.
He died doing what American fathers do – putting his kids first, all the way to the end.
His daughter is alive because of him.
The government didn't save her.
The lockdown-era bureaucrats who gutted the certification programs that train ocean rescue guards didn't save her.
Her dad saved her.
The least we can do is say his name and make sure people understand why the towers that should have been staffed weren't – and who made the decisions that left those towers empty.
Check the flags before you go in.
Swim in front of a guarded tower.
If the current takes you, swim parallel to shore – not toward it.
And remember Ryan Jennings, who proved what real courage looks like.
Sources:
- Raymond Sanchez, "Swimmer Dies Amid High Rip Current Risk as Spring-Breakers Flock to Florida Beaches," Fox Weather, April 6, 2026.
- "1 Death, Dozens of Rescues Over Weekend Amid Rip Currents in South Florida," Local 10 / WPLG, April 6, 2026.
- "Rip Current Chaos: Florida Lifeguards Pull 70+ From Sea as Red Flags Fly," CBS12, April 7, 2026.
- "Maine Father Dies Saving Kids in Juno Beach Rip Current," CBS12 / CW34, April 2026.
- Volusia County Beach Safety Director Tammy Malphurs, via Click Orlando, February 25, 2025.
- "Woman Becomes 31st Victim of Rough Water, Rip Currents in Florida This Year," Fox Weather, July 25, 2023.
