Rip currents - educate yourself before going to the beach!

[georgina]

Just saw on the evening news that 5 people were swept away in Florida and died. When I was 14 in North Carolina, 3 of us teens were jumping the waves, and turned around to find we were suddenly far from the shore. A couple of surfers came by and helped us get out of the rip current. The solution is to swim parallel to the shore, then work your way back in. Fortunately we were strong swimmers and managed to get back to the shore.

https://oceantoday.noaa.gov/fullmoo...=The first thing is to,call for help on shore.

 

[CdnCarrie]

Another reason I prefer lakes.

Very sad.

 

[LuvOrlando]

Be so careful and try to keep kids in front of lifeguards in addition to never taking your eyes off them.

When I was a kid around 9 there was a rip current at Jersey Shore that made the lifeguards kick us out of the water. I remember walking behind my mother along the shore ankle deep and a forceful wave knocked me face down into the surf. The suction was so bad it kept my face pressed into the wet sand, the waves would come up with tons of force and when it went out the suction was unbelievable. I think it took 4 times before I realized the only way to move was to push up and roll over when the tide came in. I literally almost drowned in about 4 inches of a rip tide and no-one around me even noticed.

Same exact thing happened to a guy I know when he was around 11.

It is easy to underestimate the force of the ocean, it was very literally ankle deep but if the water destabilizes the sand under your feet and pulls at you it is easy to go down, I assume people just thought I was playing just like my friend meanwhile we were drowning.

About 12 years ago we went out onto a friends boat in Jersey and things were fine but later in the day the ocean changed and it got very dangerous for the kids, I could see them struggling to keep their heads up and to hold on. One of the guys on the boat was a lifeguard and I begged him to help the kids while the guy driving the boat was being a jerk. A few days later I read something like 3 - 5 adults drowned over that weekend. Turns out there was a storm further south and while we had no storms the water was disturbed.

 

[DizneyFamof4]

If you were jumping waves then you really were not in a rip current. A rip current is normally a section in between waves and does not really have waves coming into shore. So the waves come in on each side of you and then when It goes back out it will pull you under the water and take you out. Panicking is what causes a lot of the issue, but it is very hard not to panic when you are all of a sudden pulled under and going with the flow. The one time it happened to me, I was lucky and it only took me out about 30 yards and a sand bar was not far away from me so I was able to swim towards that before coming back in.

 

[Dan Murphy]

Another reason I prefer lakes.

Many are lost here in Lake Michigan every year. 10 so far this season.

https://glsrp.org/statistics/

 

[Lsdolphin]

Just saw where a couple got caught in rip current off Fla Beach and left behind 6 children…apparently they were on an unguarded beach which had warning flags out…

 

[georgina]

If you were jumping waves then you really were not in a rip current. A rip current is normally a section in between waves and does not really have waves coming into shore. So the waves come in on each side of you and then when It goes back out it will pull you under the water and take you out. Panicking is what causes a lot of the issue, but it is very hard not to panic when you are all of a sudden pulled under and going with the flow. The one time it happened to me, I was lucky and it only took me out about 30 yards and a sand bar was not far away from me so I was able to swim towards that before coming back in.

View attachment 870275

We were not pulled under, just pulled out to sea. I have been pulled under from waves before. Rip currents do not pull you under, that is a myth. From weather.gov -
Myth: Rip currents pull people under water.
Fact: A rip current will not pull you under water, but they can pull a swimmer away from the beach beyond breaking waves.

 

[Lynne G]

Yeah, poor parents left 6 kids in our news.

When I was young, I swam a lot at the Jersey shore. One time, I did get caught in a rip current, and found myself out much further than I was. I knew to swim parallel to the shore, and by the time I got to shore, I was over a half a mile down from where my rest of my party was. Luckily, I was a good swimmer, and raced for my local swim team when I was young. Since I was an adult, I rarely go into the sea much anymore.

 

[DizneyFamof4]

We were not pulled under, just pulled out to sea. I have been pulled under from waves before. Rip currents do not pull you under, that is a myth. From weather.gov -
Myth: Rip currents pull people under water.
Fact: A rip current will not pull you under water, but they can pull a swimmer away from the beach beyond breaking waves.

My bad, I should have worded it better. The current is so strong (it will pull you 8 feet per second) that if walking into one, it pushes your legs out from under you. But the main point is that the rip current will be where a gap where there are little to no waves but will have waves on each side of it and to look for those areas. But the best advice is, if there are Red flags just do not go in!

 

[Kathryn Merteuil]

Very scary!

I remember a few years ago we were in Destin area and they had the “don’t get in the water” flags displayed. There were some kind of authorities that kept having to chase people out of the water. Many of those people had to be told more than once.

 

[Imzadi]

Thanks for the visual photo. I've heard for years to swim parallel to the shore until one can swim back toward the shore. (One co-worker drowned, decades ago, while being caught in a rip tide up here. It didn't matter that he was from Trinidad, an island, and was usually a good swimmer.)

But, no one ever explained how FAR one has to swim parallel, several hundred yards, several MILES? The idea that one is trapped parallel to the shore for a few miles would be panic making too. Seeing it visually that eventually, one may not have to swim that far parallel is nice to know.

 

[Imzadi]

If you are along the Atlantic coastline, be mindful during hurricane season. I mentioned a coworker who drowned in the post above. There had been a hurricane down in Florida a few days before. The rip currents traveled up the coastline to NY those few days later, where he had drowned off Fire Island, even though we hadn't experienced any bad weather yet. In fact, the weather was still great up here. It was beneath the ocean that the churning danger was hiding.

 

[mjkacmom]

Grew up going to the Jersey shore (grandparents lived 3 blocks from the beach) so I’m well schooled on rip currents. My kids did the same (one daughter lives a 5 minute walk from the beach) and a couple have had to be rescued before. We always swam in front of the lifeguards (which means constant readjustment because the ocean pulls you one way). My son lives 20 minutes away from the beach but has a summer share in a beach house 2 blocks from the beach, I’m always afraid of alcohol causing bad ocean decisions.

 

[LuvOrlando]

Sharing info on bathing suit colors. Didn't even know this mattered when my kids were young.

https://reviewed.usatoday.com/parenting/features/safest-colors-childrens-swimsuits

 

[pens4821]

Been going to the beach for maybe about 20 years. Wasn’t around it as a kid so I’ve never been in one. My question is, do people that don’t make it out just panic? I’ve read of even experienced swimmers and longtime beach goers becoming the victim of rip currents and I cant help but wonder how it happens. If you’re at the beach with others and they see you drifting out surely they’d call for help. So just relax and float or maybe try to do the parallel thing without tiring yourself. Is it really that simple?

This is in no way passing judgement or victim blaming. I just want to know what actually happens in one. I’m just always stunned when you hear of strong swimmers passing and truly curious if something else happens or what. I’ve always wondered if they pull you under also but that seems to be a myth as someone posted above.

 

[Imzadi]

Been going to the beach for maybe about 20 years. Wasn’t around it as a kid so I’ve never been in one. My question is, do people that don’t make it out just panic? I’ve read of even experienced swimmers and longtime beach goers becoming the victim of rip currents and I cant help but wonder how it happens. If you’re at the beach with others and they see you drifting out surely they’d call for help. So just relax and float or maybe try to do the parallel thing without tiring yourself. Is it really that simple?

This is in no way passing judgement or victim blaming. I just want to know what actually happens in one. I’m just always stunned when you hear of strong swimmers passing and truly curious if something else happens or what. I’ve always wondered if they pull you under also but that seems to be a myth as someone posted above.

Yes, people panic as they can't swim towards the beach. They forget or don't know to swim parallel to the beach. They just feel themselves being pulled further away from the shore and keep trying to swim towards it. Eventually they exhaust themselves and drown.

According to the witness reports, that's what happened to my coworker up-thread, who drowned. He DID yell for help. People on the beach saw him and tried to get him help. (I guess there were no lifeguards on that part of the beach.) Some even tried to indicate that he swim sideways. But he was too far out by then to hear them. In his panic to swim back and NOT LET THE CURRENT PULL HIM FURTHER OUT TO SEA as the shoreline gets smaller and smaller, he kept struggling and swimming toward the shore. He drowned and his body sunk under the water.

It took two days for the coastguard, helicopters and rescue team - then renamed the search and recovery team to locate his body, as his then buoyant body (due to gases released inside) finally washed back to shore a few miles down. I remember hearing about it on the news before we found out who it was.

It doesn't take long to actually drown. I heard something like 6 seconds? That's why kids have to be watched like hawks while they are near the water. They fall in while one is turned away, and when one looks back, they have drowned.

 

[LuvOrlando]

If you are along the Atlantic coastline, be mindful during hurricane season. I mentioned a coworker who drowned in the post above. There had been a hurricane down in Florida a few days before. The rip currents traveled up the coastline to NY those few days later, where he had drowned off Fire Island, even though we hadn't experienced any bad weather yet. In fact, the weather was still great up here. It was beneath the ocean that the churning danger was hiding.

I think this happens a lot.

Now I know to look all along the coast to see if there are disturbances.

 

[Imzadi]

Hurricane/Tropical storm Debby has moved up the Eastern coastline. It may be gone in your area and the ocean looks calm, but remember, the residual rip currents below the surface of the ocean are still churning below.

Here in NY, we've had a shortage of lifeguards, even though there have been jobs available for them. They finally extended the hours lifeguards need to be on duty, as we've had a few people drown in the last few weeks, swimming after the lifeguards went off-duty, but it was still very light out. And that was even before Debby.

Yesterday, the lifeguards rescued two swimmers caught in the (post Debby) rip currents off the Long Island shore.

Stay aware, wherever you are, everyone!

 

[mjkacmom]

Hurricane/Tropical storm Debby has moved up the Eastern coastline. It may be gone in your area and the ocean looks calm, but remember, the residual rip currents below the surface of the ocean are still churning below.

Here in NY, we've had a shortage of lifeguards, even though there have been jobs available for them. They finally extended the hours lifeguards need to be on duty, as we've had a few people drown in the last few weeks, swimming after the lifeguards went off-duty, but it was still very light out. And that was even before Debby.

Yesterday, the lifeguards rescued two swimmers caught in the (post Debby) rip currents off the Long Island shore.

Stay aware, wherever you are, everyone!

Just got back from the Jersey shore yesterday, on Friday they just had a lifeguard in an atv making sure no one went into the water at all.

 

[disneyseniors]

Many are lost here in Lake Michigan every year. 10 so far this season.

https://glsrp.org/statistics/

Hi Dan: I hate to sound dumb, but Lake Michigan doesn't have bad rip currents does it? I live closer to Lake Superior but never would swim in it. I just don't associate rip currents with our Great Lakes.