Stay calm.
Float if necessary.
Swim parallel to the shoreline until out of the current.
Then angle back toward shore.
If you cannot escape, wave and yell for help.
Those steps can be the difference between survival and tragedy.
Fred's story is heartbreaking, but it also offers an opportunity to remind people of this lifesaving information.
Why Rip Currents Are So Dangerous to Visitors
The ocean is not a swimming pool.
A pool is controlled.
The water is relatively predictable.
There are no breaking waves pushing and pulling swimmers.
At a beach, conditions can change quickly.
Waves, wind, tides, sandbars, currents, and storms can interact in complicated ways.
The National Weather Service advises beachgoers to check surf forecasts, look for warning flags, swim near lifeguards, and follow instructions from beach patrols. It also recommends avoiding swimming alone.
This is particularly important for visitors who may not know the local coastline.
A beach can look calm.
The water can feel comfortable.
Yet dangerous currents may exist only a short distance away.
The National Weather Service notes that rip currents can occur at surf beaches and that their strength can vary from moment to moment.
That unpredictability is part of the hazard.
The Day Was Already Dangerous
Fred's family was caught in the water during a period of hazardous coastal conditions.
The incident occurred around the time Tropical Storm Barry was affecting the Gulf region. Contemporary reports said double-red-flag conditions had been posted for beaches in the area because of dangerous surf and rip currents.
The significance of the warning became tragically clear.
Double red flags are not simply a suggestion to be cautious.
They indicate extremely dangerous water conditions and, depending on local rules, may mean the water is closed to the public.
The National Weather Service emphasizes that when beach hazard conditions are high, swimmers should stay out of the water and follow local warning systems.
The Pepperman tragedy therefore occurred in circumstances where the ocean posed a serious and recognized risk.
But warnings are only effective when people understand them and act on them.
The Importance of Beach Warning Flags
Beach warning flags are designed to communicate danger quickly.
A person does not need to read a long weather report.
They can look at the flag.
But visitors unfamiliar with a particular beach may not know what the colors mean.
That can be dangerous.
The National Weather Service advises beachgoers to learn local warning systems, pay attention to posted signs, and check with lifeguards before entering the water.
The lesson is simple:
Before getting into the ocean, know what the water is doing.
Not what you hope it is doing.
Not what it looks like from the sand.
What the local authorities say it is doing.
The Danger of Becoming the Second Victim
There is another lesson hidden inside Fred's story.
Rescuers need protection too.
Imagine seeing a stranger's child struggling in the ocean.
Now imagine that child is your own.
The instinct to act can be overwhelming.
But a person who enters a rip current without flotation can quickly lose the ability to help anyone.
The National Weather Service explicitly recommends that people witnessing a rip-current emergency call a lifeguard or 911 and throw a flotation device whenever possible.
This is why lifeguards are so important.
They are trained to recognize currents.
They know how to approach struggling swimmers.
They have rescue equipment.
And they understand how to conserve their own energy while assisting someone else.
The safest rescue is usually one that brings help and flotation to the person in trouble without creating another victim.
But Fred Was a Father First
All of that safety advice is important.
But it does not erase the human reality of what happened.
Fred was not responding to a stranger.
He was hearing his daughters call for him.
He knew they were in danger.
And in those moments, he was not thinking like a lifeguard.
He was thinking like their father.
There is something instinctive about the relationship between parents and children.
Parents spend years telling children:
I'll protect you.
I'll come get you.
I'll be there.
You can count on me.
For Fred, those were not merely words.
When his daughters needed him, he acted.
He entered the water.
He fought the current.
He helped them survive.
And when Kathryn called for him, his answer was the simplest reassurance he could give.
“I got you.”
What His Wife Remembered
After Fred's death, his wife Julie spoke publicly about the man she had married and the father her daughters had lost.
She described him as someone who had always been devoted to his family.
She said he did what a father was supposed to do.
She also understood the difficult reality of what had happened.
Fred had saved his daughters, but the family now had to live with his absence.
For his wife, there was no simple victory.
The girls were alive.
But their father was gone.
That contradiction would remain with the family.
Julie also emphasized that she did not want the daughters to carry guilt for what happened.
Fred had made his choice.
And his family understood that he had acted because he loved them.
That distinction matters.
The surviving daughters did not cause their father's death.
They were the reason he acted.
The Four Daughters
Fred and Julie had four daughters.
Kathryn.
Mallory.
Olivia.
And Grace.
The tragedy involved three of them directly in the water.
But all four would live with its consequences.
For siblings, losing a parent can reshape every future milestone.
Birthdays.
Graduations.
Weddings.
Holidays.
Family vacations.
Ordinary moments that once seemed guaranteed.
Every one can become a reminder of the person who is missing.
But the daughters also carried something else with them.
They knew their father had gone toward them when they were afraid.
They knew he had not hesitated.
And they knew that when one of them called for him, he answered.
“I got you.”
That sentence became part of their family history.
Three Words That Became a Legacy
Some people leave behind long speeches.
Others leave behind letters.
Some leave behind photographs, recordings, or books.
Fred left behind three words.
“I got you.”
The sentence is short enough for a child to remember forever.
And perhaps that is why it has endured.
It does not require explanation.
A daughter hears:
“I got you.”
And remembers her father.
A family hears:
“I got you.”
And remembers the day he went into the ocean.
A stranger hears:
“I got you.”
And understands something about the instinct of a parent.
The words are not really about drowning.
They are about protection.
They are about presence.
They are about a promise.
Heroism Does Not Always Look Like a Plan
We often imagine heroes as people who have training.
Firefighters.
Police officers.
Soldiers.
Lifeguards.
Paramedics.
People who know what they are doing when disaster strikes.
Fred was not acting in an official rescue role.
He was a father at the beach.
His expertise was not the important thing in that moment.
His relationship with his children was.
That does not mean people should imitate his decision to enter dangerous water.
Quite the opposite.
The official safety lesson is that untrained people should not enter a rip current without flotation.
But there is another kind of lesson in Fred's story.
Sometimes courage is not about being fearless.