Signs Are Not Enough To Save Beachgoers from Deadly Currents (hakaimagazine.com) 130
Keeping people out of rip currents is more about reading human behavior than reading warning signs. From a report: Worldwide, rips cause hundreds of drownings and necessitate tens of thousands of rescues every year. In Australia, where 85 percent of the population lives within an hour's drive of the coast, rips cause more fatalities than floods, cyclones, and shark attacks combined. In 1938, one of the country's most popular beaches, Sydney's Bondi Beach, was the site of an infamous rip-current tragedy: within minutes, roughly 200 swimmers were swept away by a rip, leaving 35 people unconscious and five dead. More often, however, rips take one life at a time, garnering little media attention. For many casual beach visitors, the toll of rip currents goes unnoticed. [...] Although almost three-quarters of beach users said they knew what a rip current is, only 54 percent could correctly define it. In addition, only half of the people she surveyed remembered seeing either the warning signs or the colored flags denoting surf conditions that were posted on or near the main access point to each beach. An even smaller percentage could recall what color the flags had been -- green for calm, yellow for moderate, or red for dangerous conditions. "I was genuinely shocked," Locknick says.
[...] Part of the challenge of preventing rip-related drownings stems from the lack of a simple method to escape them. Rip currents form when waves pile water near the shoreline. The water then gushes back out to sea, taking the path of least resistance. It might flow along channels carved in between sandbars or next to solid structures, such as jetties or rocky headlands. These types of rips can stick around year after year. Others are more erratic, creating fleeting bursts of seaward-flowing water on smooth, open beaches. People often mislabel rip currents as undertows or rip tides. Rip currents are not caused by tides, however, and undertows are a different, weaker current, formed when water pushed onto the beach moves back offshore along the seabed. Some telltale signs of a rip include a streak of churned-up, sandy water or a dark, flat gap between breaking waves.
It's not surprising that rip currents are often misunderstood by the public because, for decades, beach-safety experts also had an oversimplified perception of their mechanics. In some of the earliest research on rips in the mid-20th century, American scientists watched sticks, pieces of kelp, and volleyballs float out to sea and described lanes of flowing water extending more than 300 meters offshore. This work formed the basis for the popular view of rip currents as jets flowing perpendicular to the beach, shooting out past the surf. To escape the river of current, experts recommended that bathers swim parallel to the beach -- a message once broadcast through education campaigns and warning signs in the United States and Australia. As it turns out, that approach may not always work.
[...] Part of the challenge of preventing rip-related drownings stems from the lack of a simple method to escape them. Rip currents form when waves pile water near the shoreline. The water then gushes back out to sea, taking the path of least resistance. It might flow along channels carved in between sandbars or next to solid structures, such as jetties or rocky headlands. These types of rips can stick around year after year. Others are more erratic, creating fleeting bursts of seaward-flowing water on smooth, open beaches. People often mislabel rip currents as undertows or rip tides. Rip currents are not caused by tides, however, and undertows are a different, weaker current, formed when water pushed onto the beach moves back offshore along the seabed. Some telltale signs of a rip include a streak of churned-up, sandy water or a dark, flat gap between breaking waves.
It's not surprising that rip currents are often misunderstood by the public because, for decades, beach-safety experts also had an oversimplified perception of their mechanics. In some of the earliest research on rips in the mid-20th century, American scientists watched sticks, pieces of kelp, and volleyballs float out to sea and described lanes of flowing water extending more than 300 meters offshore. This work formed the basis for the popular view of rip currents as jets flowing perpendicular to the beach, shooting out past the surf. To escape the river of current, experts recommended that bathers swim parallel to the beach -- a message once broadcast through education campaigns and warning signs in the United States and Australia. As it turns out, that approach may not always work.
Maybe they should post a video (Score:2)
Of rip tides and people getting caught in them. Or videos of sneaker waves (the sneaker wave vids are enough to keep me wary on any beach)
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But no longer than 10 seconds, don't expect the average idiot who'd ignore signs to have a longer attention span than the average gold fish.
Re: Maybe they should post a video (Score:2)
That would be even less effective since people are so spammed with ads today that they just ignore everything outside their main objective.
Just let Darwin roll its course.
Re:Maybe they should post a video (Score:4, Informative)
Filed Under: No Shit Sherlock.
Re:Maybe they should post a video (Score:5, Interesting)
While I agree with you, the thing is... water exerts a lot more force per unit than most people expect, so the danger is far closer to shore than people realize. They figure they can "safely" stay near the shore in knee-deep water, for example. I'm a big guy, and I've been knocked off my feet a few times in a "mere" two feet of water.
Re:Maybe they should post a video (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:Maybe they should post a video (Score:5, Interesting)
Or, as in the case when I was in Florida where it’s all flat and sandy, the rip tide blends with the tide that flows from behind a string of border islands, up to 30’ deep 3mph and a quarter mile wide. People have gotten caught unexpectedly by being run along the shore off the end of the island then swept in, even a strong knowledgeable swimmer would have a tough time swimming perpendicular and getting out.
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Putting up a sign doesn't stop people from being stupid.
Filed Under: No Shit Sherlock.
+5 Informative.
You could put up a sign ever two feet along the beach, force people to squeeze between them, and the only reaction from some people would be "What's with all these dumb-ass signs?"
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The only effective sign I have ever seen is a cross with flip flops, a beach towel, some other personal effects, and a lei. That managed to dissuade one person from going in to waters that killed someone the day before.
I like to think I am a good swimmer. There is no way in hell I am going into the ocean near me for half the year though. Yet, people come with water wings and boogie boards and think they are safe.
I have been caught in a rip current swimming once though. Was nearly a 45 minute struggle, and
Ocean Awareness 101 (Score:5, Insightful)
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Apparently, you've never had a rip tide form when you were already in the water. You can know and still get caught out, and become exhausted trying to swim across it to get out.
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Nope, I've never seen that. You mean the waves get higher, so the outgoing current is stronger? And yes, swim across the current--it's not that wide.
Unless you think there's such a thing as a "rip tide" (as opposed to a rip current); I have no idea what that would be, unless maybe the Bay of Fundy.
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Depends on the beach. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/... [wikipedia.org]
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Swim along the shoreline vs. against the rip tide. Problem solved.
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Problem is you get adults that do not go swimming even weekly just not understanding how powerful the ocean is. I know how to swim but I don't really do it very often. Last time I went swimming and did some laps I was surprised just how out of shape in those muscle groups I am.
I figured since I can ride my bike 20 miles or do a 14 mile hike in 6 hours (was listed as hard) that I'd be fine. Yeah... not so much. Entirely different kind of stamina and muscle groups needed for swimming in the ocean.
As a kid I d
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I'm a snorkeler. Some times, I'm in the ocean for a couple of hours. Wearing fins is also a good safety precaution (and it really helps with swimming efficiency).
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Me too, and a rip current is a good way to get out from the beach to where you want to snorkel, usually on the ocean side of the reef. (The shore side of the reef is too murky, and the top of the reef has too many waves cresting.) When you're done, you can usually ride the waves back in to shore over the top of the reef, although you have to be careful not to get scraped up on the coral.
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I *think* you're right, but the article (not the summary) claims that sometimes rip currents wind up as spirals (I guess on the ocean side), and that if you don't realize you're in the spiral and you try to swim parallel to the beach, you have a chance (I guess 50%) of trying to swim against the current. I've never seen that, although I suppose it's possible.
And yes, riding a rip current is a good way to get out to deeper water where you want to dive. Sort of like riding a (working) escalator.
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The most important thing is first not to panic - concentrate on keeping yourself afloat. if you are calm and just maintain deep breathing without breathing all the way out, the buoyancy of the air in your lungs should keep you afloat, even for the leanest frame. If you are carrying a bit of (fat) weight it should be a lot easier for you to float.
Second thing, is to then swim parallel to the current, while not getting too tired - rips are caused by the water that crashes to shore from waves needing somewher
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Oops I meant perpendicular to the current - which may or may not be parallel to the beach. If you are in a gutter along the beach, where water moves rapidly in a channel parallel to the beach before getting sucked out, struggling against this trying to swim parallel to the beach wont help. Main thing is remain calm and concentrate on breathing control, not getting so tired you can't catch your breath or maintain your buoyancy and drown.
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I am really getting mixed messages here. If a rip current does not pull you under, how is it dangerous at all if you are swimming in a country with boats that will come get you sometime in the next couple hours.
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People drown due to exhaustion. A few waves and swallowing water makes it much harder. We had someone die in less than 5 minutes near my house. (Went into the ocean to pee.)
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The point of this video is that recent research shows "swim along the shore" is only effective about 1/2 the time. The rips can form vortices and you could end up swimming into the other end of the current you are trying to get out of. Sometimes you are better off letting the current carry you out until it curls back towards shore. The best advice the video could give was continually re-assess your situation, which is pretty difficult when you don't have a bird's eye view and you are stressed and tiring.
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Strange, I've never seen one of those vortices. That's not to say they can't exist. As for re-assessing, I guess you pick out a point on the shore and track how you're moving relative to that. As a snorkeler, I always do that, so I know where I am.
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The article (and the summary) make clear that what you just said is a lie. With some riptides, swimming along the shoreline is the exact wrong thing to do.
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I got caught in one that built as you went along the beach, and was actually parallel to the shoreline. Was swimming with my wife; we stopped and made a plan, swim with the current and push towards the shore. That didn't really help; as it built we made little progress shoreward, and we approached a potential point of no return (it was an island). We were less than 100m offshore. At that point we decided our only option was to fight it close-in, using boulders for shelter to rest. It took us about 45 minute
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All of the beaches I frequented had warning of dangerous rip currents
And you wonder why people didn't heed the warning? It's because they were on all beaches. They might as well sit on the couch and watch TV instead of going to the beach.
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On many Hawaiian beaches, there are permanent rip current signs. That dilutes the warning effect of the signs. In California beaches, they have rip current flags that are raised on lifeguard stations and on piers. They are more of a real-time warning vs. a permanent one.
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Locals can be pretty careless too, the Toilet Bowl [youtube.com] draws local kids and experienced adult surfers. You can easily get stuck into a spot where you can't stay afloat and can't swim forward. But not everyone gets stuck so it is deceptive to those who don't respect the ocean.
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Locals can be pretty careless too, the Toilet Bowl [youtube.com] draws local kids and experienced adult surfers. You can easily get stuck into a spot where you can't stay afloat and can't swim forward. But not everyone gets stuck so it is deceptive to those who don't respect the ocean.
I grew up on the North Shore. I've heard stories of the Toilet Bowl and had friends swim there (same crowd that would jump off the rock at Waiamea Bay), but I was always leery. Most of the beaches I frequented didn't have life guards or colored flags. I saw temporary signs on a few days warning of dangerous currents.
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That video is a typical day where people jump in and are fine. Signs posted all over not to do exactly what they are doing. It's a bit of a spectacle as it's near the sidewalk between two popular tourist destinations. It's a dead-end cove and normal people like to just sit there and watch the water blast into it and gaze out into the ocean.
But every year there are one or more rescue operations and sometimes it's so bad that the first responders just kind of stand there and watch in horror as attempts to sen
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You know how we humans tend to ignore the shit out of 99.999% of EULAs, along with every stop/caution/warning/hazard/slow/careful/critical/dangerous sign we see, about every 75 yards in life?
Yeah, that.
When your community sign policy was written by the Boy Lawyer who profits off crying wolf, this is the end result. People don't believe the signs.
Too Many Warnings (Score:5, Insightful)
I realized some people don't heed warnings.
Given that the threshold of what needs a warning has become so low that it is almost farcical this is not surprising. The problem is that when everything is "dangerous" people learn to ignore warnings and carry on. Unfortunately, it can be hard to tell which warnings really are serious and necessary so they end up being ignored too.
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Before this article I don't even know there is something called rip current. I guess if I see a sign in beach warning about rip current before this read, the warning sign will probably convey zero information to me and I will carry on without knowing better. "Rip current? Interesting new term. Maybe I shall look up Wikipedia after enjoying the beach today." This could be the best response I may have.
In the article, they show some beaches try to draw illustration to explain to tourists what is rip current
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All of the beaches I frequented had warning of dangerous rip currents, updated daily and people still went in the water.
Well of course. People can understand that they should be somewhat careful if a warning is posted, but until the beach water is closed, if a warning is posted, all that says is that the government has checked and verified that the beach is generally safe. I would be far more wary of a beach with no signs than one the government monitors and decided to allow civilians to use.
Oh! My! What a shocking news! (Score:2)
Darwin approves (Score:3, Informative)
and that's why we have Darwin Awards.
Play stupid games, win stupid prizes.
We need more of this. As it is now, we're making Idiocracy into a documentary.
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Agreed. We had very few participants in the Drawin Awards contest lately, way to too few.
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Interestingly, allowing adults to shirk responsibility for their actions has resulted in a few generations of adults who still act like, and have, the mentality of children.
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It's not about killing them, it's about raising generations of poor, uneducated voters, that will believe the promises and the blame, leaving them clutching at straws at the polls.
MAGA looks to me like the first full-blown generation of this trend. Keep 'em poor, keep 'em stupid, keep 'em voting for the promise of "change" that's never going to come from who they keep voting in. It's sadly ironic that the "party of change" is so dedicated to making sure nothing changes, or even regresses. It's scary time
Think of it as evolution in action (Score:3)
People who actually read stuff, are clearly favored by evolution.
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I was taught to swim perpendicular to the current, across the rip tide rather than against it. No one ever mentioned anything about the shoreline.
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"Then I suggest reading the summary, if not the actual article."
You must be new here, welcome!
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tl;dr ... ACK!
I've always assumed (Score:2)
that the water wants to kill me. This assumption has served me well.
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In Australia, everything wants to kill you.
OTOH, I'm surprised that they haven't just banned them yet.
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I really don't get how Australia got this reputation.
Africa has lions, elephants, hippos, crocodiles, wildebeest, scorpions, snakes etc.
North America has bears, cougars, alligators, snakes, etc.
South America has jaguars, piranhas, caimans, snakes, etc.
Europe admittedly has little left anymore.
Australia has a couple of spiders that haven't killed a single person since the 80s, some snakes that kill 2-3 people a year, some crocs if you happen to be in the far north, and that's about it. Oh and sharks, but eve
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This is true. Australia also mandates bicycle helmets and bans toy guns. The perpetual state of paranoia about the slightest hint of danger and willingness to suck a the nanny-state teat proves we are a nation of sooky scaredy cats.
Re:I've always assumed (Score:4, Informative)
I really don't get how Australia got this reputation.
Africa has lions, elephants, hippos, crocodiles, wildebeest, scorpions, snakes etc. North America has bears, cougars, alligators, snakes, etc. South America has jaguars, piranhas, caimans, snakes, etc. Europe admittedly has little left anymore.
Australia has a couple of spiders that haven't killed a single person since the 80s
This is because an anti-venom has been available since 1981. A deadly spider that requires anti-venom to live is still a deadly spider.
some snakes that kill 2-3 people a year, some crocs if you happen to be in the far north, and that's about it.
That is a snake fatality rate six times higher than the U.S. The U.S. has crocodile, alligators and caimans, but none are deadly like the Australian crocodiles.
Also agonizingly painful and sometimes deadly jellyfish that require wearing two pairs of panty hose while wading to prevent being stung. Also lots of other deadly sea creature - blue ringed octopus, stone fish, cone shell, etc.
And "some snakes" include more poisonous snakes than any other continent, including the deadliest.
So that's how they got the reputation - it is deserved.
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So that's how they got the reputation - it is deserved.
And you didn't even mention the drop bears!
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rips cause more fatalities than floods, cyclones, and shark attacks combined.
I dunno, floods cylones maybe, but in Australia, more than shark attacks too? Fake news. :P
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Yes, rip currents kill many more people than sharks every year. Not fake news.
Water is mindless. If you lead it will follow. (Score:2)
If we provide a predictable channel for the excess water brought above the surface to return it will always go there and avoid random rip currents. Demarcate those rip current areas as no swim zones and rest of the place
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Surfer use rip currents to get out behind the breakers. Swimmers are the drowny problem here.
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Snorkelers use them too, at least if you know what you're doing. If it's the first time you've ever put on mask, snorkel and fins, you should probably stay in the kiddy pool side of the reef.
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"the location of rip currents can change": That sort of depends on the kind of beach. If everything is sand for as far as you can see, yes, the channel the outgoing water takes can change. But if there's a reef (either rock or coral) outside of the swimming area, then the location of the rip currents doesn't change much: the channels through the rocks or coral don't move, except maybe during a hurricane.
Perhaps a shouting sign is needed (Score:2)
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Our neighbor's kids do a variation of that with a bullhorn. Seems to be about 25% effective, maybe 40% when she starts to get personal and mean.
emergency floaty (Score:5, Interesting)
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Slick, cheap instant PFD.
Aircrew use automatic gas generators to inflate their vests
https://www.flighthelmet.com/p... [flighthelmet.com]
A sealed unit in a tearaway pouch attached to a lanyard would immediately inflate a worn PFD.
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I always swim with a swim-floaty. I've bought a total of four different brands, but always pick this one because it's the lightest
https://halloffameswimshop.com... [halloffameswimshop.com]
Being small and light it's less visible than other huge ones, but I still prefer it.
What's nice is that it has a drybag so I can carry car-keys, wallet, cellphone, and also a bottle of water because I often do 5-10 mile swims (longest was 24 miles but that took several rewatering+refeuling stops).
On the lake I see that all other open-water-swimmer
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May I ask how hard it is to inflate the bag in an emergency situation?
I was considering getting something like this (wristband with a small CO2 cylinder which can inflate a small floating device), bu am a bit sceptical on how long the CO2 cylinder can be plugged into that without being slowly discharged
https://www.amazon.com/JIJI-Ne... [amazon.com]
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Decades ago, scuba divers (and sometimes snorkelers) had inflatable vests that you could inflate by pulling a lanyard, which punctured a CO2 cartridge. I assume that's what they put under airplane seats, too. The problem is if you frequently take it in water (especially salt water), the mechanism rusts, and pulling on the lanyard may do nothing (or if it's *really* rusted, I suppose the mechanism might just break). Modern divers have other mechanisms for inflating vests.
People are idiots (Score:2)
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I'd walk around those fences and put "Do not pee on the fence" stickers all over it, because idiots tend to do what they are told not to.
The over-abundance of signs deafens (Score:2)
Well, yeah, but (Score:4, Insightful)
In Australia, where 85 percent of the population lives within an hour's drive of the coast, rips cause more fatalities than floods, cyclones, and shark attacks combined.
I'm not sure how many annual fatalities there are from floods and cyclones, but I looked up how many fatalities there are from shark attacks in Australia. The answer? Over the past five years, four.
So I'm somehow not surprised more people die in rip currents than die from shark attacks.
But the thing is, it does demonstrate how bad humans really are at understanding risk. Understanding that the big fish with the big teeth can kill you? Easy. Understanding that water that looks safe and seems safe until all of a sudden you're swept a mile away isn't? Not so much.
Which means that despite the fact that sharks only rarely attack people, and even then, shark attacks are rarely fatal, the shark attack likely seems like the more deadly danger. Even though it isn't.
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No worries about being swept a mile away; I've never seen a rip current that's more than a hundred or so yards long.
Tides, like in the Bay of Fundy, or rivers--they can be miles long.
Don't go to the Beach (Score:2)
They should make a law (Score:2)
Because new laws definitely stop people from being stupid.
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Yeah, let's make rip currents illegal.
Better still, let's use a few politicians to check whether the water is complying.
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I think you're on to something there!
Just a thought (Score:2)
Or if you are the sort that enjoys the Darwin Awards just leave well enough alone.
Give natural selection a chance (Score:2)
Multilingual life savers (Score:2)
I watch the TV show Bondi Life Savers and the deficiencies in 'life guarding' are appalling. We have many non-English speaking tourists visiting our beaches, often with poor swimming abilities. Couple this with lifeguards and signage that are exclusively English, it's no wonder people are still drowning in the surf.
People do not fucking read. (Score:2)
Film at 11. ;)
This is why that meeting that could've been an email ... wasn't an email.
Never taught to just swim parallel w/ beach (Score:2)
Stupid People Gonna Stupid (Score:2)
Nothing to be done except maybe laugh.
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Darwinism needs to eat.
Tourists (Score:3)
Before COVID it was common for tourists to go to Bondi and drown. Many of them came from countries who do not have a beach culture so can't swim unlike the locals where the huge majority of the population learn to swim when young and are familiar with the beach and sea. A couple of episodes of Bondi Rescue shows this pretty clearly. New migrants even if they can't swim tend to be pretty savvy about making sure their kids can and there are swim schools everywhere plus it's taught in schools to a small extent. I'm a rubbish swimmer as I am from Scotland but my daughter learned to swim here when she was 3.
I was in a resort in Kota Kinabalu a few years ago. Many of the guests were Chinese and very, very few could even swim in a pool. It's rather weird seeing lots of adults in a pool with life preservers and water wings whilst my 14yr old daughter is in and out of the deep end like a mermaid.
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I'm not surprised. I grew up on the beach and when I moved to Europe it's amazing how rubbish swimmers are here. Two incidents really stood out:
- In Australia you learn how to swim properly. In Europe to get your swimming safety certificate you need to be able to free style in a pool with your head above water. A friend who emigrated has his children constantly fail the certificate because they instinctively went in full on sporting freestyle clearly better swimmers than those who passed the cert.
- On the n
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"In Europe to get your swimming safety certificate you need to be able to free style in a pool with your head above water": Makes sense to me (although I wouldn't flunk someone who insisted on putting their face in and out). Many decades ago in the US, the American Red Cross decided the way to teach people to swim was to teach them the crawl stroke--that's what I think you're referring to as "sporting freestyle", where you keep putting your face down in the water. Requires lots of coordination, big feet (
You can't idiot proof reality (Score:2)
....the idiots are too skilled at what they do.
Evolution at work (Score:2)
Sounds harsh, but some people are so bad at risk management, they will get killed by stupidity sooner or later anyways and nothing can be done about that. At least when they drown, they are not drunk driving and killing somebody else instead.
A Body Surfer's tips to avoid "Rips" (Score:5, Informative)
I've escaped rip several times, I've developed some techniques for managing them that I'm happy to share. I've also been gained my surf lifesaving certificate, am a really strong swimmer and happy to say I was able to pick all four signs of a rip. These encounters come from a love of body surfing - no surfboard required.
You only notice rips if you know where you are in the surf. To do this I generally look for where I want to be (which is where the waves are) and pick two land marks at right angles to each other OR three landmarks if it is an open beach before I go in. Establish, by sight the angles and then periodically maintain and correct those angles.
Learn to tread water for as long as possible. I generally tread water for about two-three hours in a body surfing session, which doubles as water survival training. In my experience I've found that rips also change their position as the tide goes in and out. So treading water is the goto as you assess where the rip is going.
The sensation of being completely out of your depth and control is overwhelming. The first and most important thing to remember is to stay calm at the moment you realize that you're in a rip, if you panic - you die. You need your brain, cognition - emotion will kill you in a rip and the fear is bad enough.
So the first thing you notice is you are moving where you don't want to go, if you missed all of the other warnings before that, like the tugging at your legs or how unusually fast you are going, then you are out of avoidance and into managing your escape from the rip. Stay calm, tread water asses the directions.
Once you have figured out the direction you are traveling I've found that swimming at an angle away from, but not opposite to, the direction the rip is taking you. If the surf is also smashing you then you have to time the sets coming in. Hold your breath in the dump, wait for the suck back (which is the trailing edge of the wave to pass) before breathing. If possible, try to use the power of the wave to push you back into shore either by catching it OR rolling yourself into a ball by grabbing your shins. Ironically, deeper water where the surf isn't breaking can be a potential exit, depending on the size of the rip. But you look for that *before* you go in - so you know where to avoid.
As you get closer to the shore, two more dangers emerge. First, the "Wash". Foamy water from the surf breaking is less buoyant and you can sink into it and drown in shallow water. Hold your breathe again. The second is the cross rip, not mentioned in the safety video is a section of suddenly deeper water close to shore which pulls you back into the rip. You can be within 5 meters of the shore and find it close to impossible to get out of the water. You are in a fight for your life, you can't fight the ocean but you can use the power of the waves against the rip to push you into/onto the shore. If you get exhausted, tread water, assess, and try again.
Important thing here is if you are able to gain *any* footing on the sand dig your toes in push up and out of the water and breathe before the next sets comes. Try as hard as you can to get more purchase in the sand towards shallower water. You will have to use every bit of strength that you have and when you get out, walk up and away from the water then sit, rest and look at what you escaped from as you will remember the signs for the future.
Frankly, as an experienced body surfer and a powerful swimmer I'm always on the look out for rips. Once you been caught in one, you will never forget it, sometimes I think of it as the ocean giving you a kiss and suggesting that you can come back to her.
The beaches in that surf life saving video are some of my local beaches (not Bondi) so it's easy to see the temptation of being in that beautiful emerald water. Cutting a line down the face of a big wave is an exhilarating experience and being aware of the danger is always something to keep in mind in the surf.
Stay calm and stay alive!
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You sound solidly knowledgeable about them. Could you explain something please? I don't actually understand WHAT a rip-current does...
* Does it drag you under?
* Does it drag you under only near the shore (i.e. where waves form from the bottom) or also further out?
* Does it direct out to sea from the shore either straight or at an angle, or is it sometimes parallel to the shore?
* I know that when waves crash into shallow water then you're helpless because they grab you, yank you out, then smash you back into
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Best way to get out of a rip: Ask a surfer to tow you in.
Surfers generally use the rip to get out past the waves. Rescuing with a board is usually a special "Rescue" surfboard. They are big enough to carry two people. Surfer's board are usually sized to their approximate weight so they can be more maneuverable so are unlikely to have enough buoyancy to be able to tow you.
Maybe just enough to give you a rest whilst the clubbies come get you.
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I can't imagine any current--possibly short of the one underneath a waterfall--dragging you under. What I can imagine is being in frothy water (like the white part of a breaking wave, or under a waterfall) and not being able to stay up. It's not that there's a current dragging you under, it's that the air bubbles in the water mean the water is not as dense, and it therefore doesn't buoy you up as much.
As to the direction, the rip current itself goes away from the shore. Usually that's at roughly right an
Learn to respect the sea (Score:2)
Many years ago, I was pretty lucky to learn a valuable lesson related to this and get away with it.
One minute I was swimming near the shore, trying to catch waves to body surf, maybe 40 metres out.
The next minute "Oh, more swell than waves now, what's up - oh shit!" - the shore was more like 120 metres out.
I then noticed that I was moving quite rapidly with the tide, sort of horizontal to the beach, but also going further out.
Luckily for me, not that I knew it, it wasn't that strong of a rip tide. Back then
How to protect people against themselves? (Score:2)
Today, a woman was killed again (here in Belgium) when she tried to cross the train tracks in the station.
It's already two years that there are campaigns here (with footage from accidents/near accidents) to inform people to not cross train tracks where it is forbidden.
But there is always a section of the population which thinks that it will not happen to them.
I propose a new sign (Score:2)
It'd read:
"If you're family doesn't pay for rescuing your corpse beforehand, we will let you rot at the sea."
Too slow (Score:2)
Darwin isn't working fast enough
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Yeah, not the beaches' fault when morons ignore the warnings.