CHARLOTTE, N.C. — As thousands of Bike Week participants, spring breakers and surfers flock to Florida’s beaches this month, it’s important to keep an eye on beach conditions.

What You Need To Know

  •  High surf, strong currents and a risk of rip currents on some of Florida's beaches

  •  Thousands are expected to visit this month for Bike Week, Spring Break and other events

  •  Volusia County rescued 15 from the water on Saturday

In Volusia County, beach conditions were at red flag at the start of the weekend, warning of high surf, strong currents and rip currents.

Lifeguards had to rescue 15 people from the water Saturday, according to county numbers.

On the beaches of Ponce Inlet, Owen Anthony and his dad were in town for a surfing competition. 12-year-old Owen said through surfing, he’s learned a lot of tricks about beach safety.

“Where maybe like rip currents or sharks may be. See where everyone else, and if there is nobody, maybe it’s not as good of a spot to go to,” Anthony said Sunday.

The 12-year-old and Jacksonville-native competed Saturday and Sunday in a USA Surfing competition.

“I just like doing it cause it’s fun,” Anthony added.

In his fifth year of surfing, Anthony said he knows the signs of rip currents and other potentially dangerous water conditions.

“If you see like water in one spot from a tide pool going out, 90% of the time there’s probably going to be a rip current right there,” Anthony said. “Cause it’s like picking up all the sand and whatever else is there, and it just takes it out, and it’ll just look like a brown line, through the water.”

Or, maybe the advice should be just as simple as it was spoken from this surfing 12-year-old.

“Don’t go farther than you think you can go,” Anthony said simply.

If you get caught in a rip current, the best practice is to not fight the current, swim parallel to the shore out of the current, and then attempt to swim back in, according to a USA Surfing official.