[myerson]

Old NC beachcomber and riptide survivor here. If you get pulled put, don’t panic and fight it, or you’ll rapidly become exhausted and drown. Keep your head above the water and let it take you out. It only goes out 100-200 yards, usually. When it stops pulling you out, try to swim or float parallel to the beach and then swim into shore with the natural flow of water and the wave action. Best yet, know where you’re swimming and avoid areas known for rip tides. This procedure was once taught to Boy Scouts, long ago, when the Scouts were real out-doorsy type Boy Scouts.

[Freedom'sWorthIt]

Great advice, thanks.

[IrishBrigade]

‘This procedure was once taught to Boy Scouts, long ago, when the Scouts were real out-doorsy type Boy Scouts.’

yes, well the procedure now is to plop 3 teenage boys on a tower watching a postage stamp of water, so that they are not deprived of socializing time, rather than deploying them each to guard a similar sized patch of water, thereby tripling the available swimming area...Jersey brain power (Chris Christie) at it’s finest...

[Jeff Chandler]

If you get pulled put, don’t panic and fight it, or you’ll rapidly become exhausted and drown. Keep your head above the water and let it take you out. It only goes out 100-200 yards, usually. When it stops pulling you out, try to swim or float parallel to the beach and then swim into shore with the natural flow of water and the wave action.

Excellent advice for the inexperienced.

We used to seek out rip tides and use them to carry us past the surf line so we could surf, SCUBA dive, etc.