Posted on 06/16/2016 11:51:06 PM PDT by Berlin_Freeper
Many of us look forward to a trip to the beach during the summer months – the sun, sand and water are all elements that we can savor. But there are dangers present along the shore, including rip currents.
A rip current is a strong but narrow current that flows away from the beach. Rip currents can form at any beach with breaking waves (including the Great Lakes). The speed of a rip current can exceed 6 miles per hour (faster than an Olympic swimmer) and can extend the length of a football field off the coast.
According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), about 100 fatalities a year across the nation are blamed on rip currents.
(Excerpt) Read more at weather.com ...
Swim parallel to the beach. The End.
A beach that I surfed as a young guy had a wicked rip that ran parallel to a jetty. We used to paddle into the outbound direction in order to get out past the breakers faster. It seemed fun a the time!
Yep. We used them all the time to get through the surf line. Not dangerous at all if you understand them.
Well, what this amounts to is "stay calm and stay afloat". Because if you are being "swept out" this is a temporary situation. You need to conserve your energy to swim back in after you get out there, and things have calmed down. Or, if you end up way out there, stay calm and stay afloat. They will come for you. Be waiting.
If you are being carried out by a rip tide you should swim parallel to the beach. This is how you EXIT a rip tide. If you do it soon enough, you will not be far from the shore. Where people get in trouble is when they try to swim against the rip tide. Don’t fight it; just swim out of it.
We used to locate rip tides and ride them out past the surf line. We did this for body surfing and SCUBA diving.
I don’t have this problem in Colorado, but for all that have beaches or visit them, I found these videos:
!!HOW TO ESCAPE A RIP CURRENT!!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=viKb5Ny4OWk
Channel 7 News - Rip Currents
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1OebiHik0aI
They started filming when approximately 20 men rushed up the beach, across the busy road, and scrambled across railway lines and into the hills behind four star hotels.
Thank you beaversmom.
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