Remembering that prolly saved my life in `79 off Ocean beach, San Diego.
Not a bad swimmer at all, but the harder I tried to swim to shore the farther away I found myself.
Don’t panic, just remember: swim parallel to shore, then try again.
I had a similar experience - I grew up on the Pacific Ocean and only went into the water when the tide was incoming.
Did it a thousand times.
I NEVER went out deeper than mid chest in the water. I’m a good swimmer, but was uncomfortable past this level.
The beach I lived on was very shallowly sloped, so you were out 150 feet when you were chest deep, though there were great waves!
One day, like you, I got caught in a riptide. I was body surfing, got rolled by a wave, and it took maybe 10 seconds to surface... I was half a mile from shore and going out.
Just like you I swam parallel to the shore — when I hit land I was more than a mile from home.
BTW, use ‘prolly’ again and I’ll set a rouge wave after you!