Beach

Rip Current Chart - The beach is colored green and the rip is the arrow pointing down.

Getting caught in a rip current can be a scary experience. After all, a rip current is a strong seaward surface flow of water which is the official way of saying “the express line out to sea.” I remember when I was fourteen years old I used to look for rip current while on beach vacations with my family in southern Java, Indonesia. I used to think they were fun, my friends and I would intentionally look for rip currents and ride them on our inner tubes out into the water and then we would swim back to shore and do it all over again. It was silly but for the most part it was safe because I was taught at a young age how to deal with rip currents and which ones to avoid. I highly suggest you avoid rip currents in general, the point I am illustrating with my experience is that if you can recognize a rip and know how to deal with one you will know how to survive one. So stay calm.

There are three easy ways to recognize the presence of a rip current. The first (and most obvious) is to always check the signs at the beach you are headed down to. I know, I know -”DUH!” right? Well, you’d be surprised at people. I used to work at a CD store (which ONLY sold CDs) and I got yelled at by a customer who stormed in and demanded a refund for the defunct watch we sold her…riiiight. Always read the signs and always know your surroundings – isn’t that covered in Travel 101 class?

The second way to distinguish a rip is to look for an unusually calm section of water. It is particularly calm because the water is headed back to ocean, so as opposed to the waves crashing onto the shore, the water swiftly moves outwards in unison without much resistance.

Finally, keep an eye out for differently colored water with and a lower waterline. These two characteristics are classic telltale signs of a rip current. So now that you know how to look for one, we can now talk about getting out of one.

Human instinct would say PANIC! and to swim against the flow towards the beach, but this exactly the WRONG approach. First, stay calm and remember that the rip current is outflowing water and that on either side of it is inflowing water. Swimming against fast outflowing water will tire you and that is when your situation can get very dangerous. What you should do is swim parallel to the shore towards the inflowing water. If you feel you are not a strong swimmer, float on your back and wave towards the shore for help. Also, rip currents eventually die out and you can swim back to shore safely although this could take longer to accomplish.

So here is a recap:

There is a rip current if…

1. There is a sign on the beach that says so.

2. There is a section of water on the beach which is unusually calm.

3. There is a section of water which is of a different color and the waterline is lower when compared to other sections of the beach.

Most importantly:

You get out of a rip current by staying calm, swimming parallel to the beach NOT against the current towards the beach. Or, you can let the current take you out and you can swim back to shore.

Safe beaching!

By Sebastien Tobler of Colliding Continents