Rip currents kill more beachgoers each year than any other threat. Time to learn how to fight them.    Photo:Todd Quackenbush/Unsplash
Conventional wisdom says that Rips flow seaward, out to deep water, so beach access signs across the world advise swimmers to paddle parallel to the beach in order to escape the them. The strong, sometimes unpredictable (flash rips) kill more beach goers each year than any other threat.
 
Rips can form on any beach, sometimes suddenly, there one minute, gone the next (flash rips), swimmers usually don’t know a rip’s present until they’re in its clutches and on the way out to sea (out the back).  The photo opposite shows yours truly with a team of Scarborough Lifeguards (including one of our all girl IRB crews Tenae & Sam) performing a mass rescue due to a flash rip. Photo courtesy of the SLSWA Lifesaver One helicopter.


Unfortunately rips can, to the untrained eye, appear to be the best place to swim. As the photo opposite shows, the waves are not breaking in the rip (as the water is deeper), the water looks flatter / calmer in the rip than the remainder of the beach around it.  Panicked victims caught by the rip often try to swim directly back to shore—against the powerful offshore flow. Swimmers familiar with rips might try swimming parallel (left of right along the shore line) to escape. in some cases however simply giving in and going with the flow is the best option. Relax, float and raise / wave one arm to attract the attention of Lifeguards as the girls in the photo below did.

A number of rips flow in large circles, from the shallows, out through the breakers and part way back again. A swimmer stuck in a circulating rip has no way of knowing which way the current is flowing. That means that by swimming parallel to the shore—something signs at nearly every popular beach in the country advise—the swimmer has a 50/50 chance of paddling against the deadly current. In this case, and I am talking circular rips, or, if you are in any doubt, simply float on your back, relax and raise an arm to attract the attention of the Lifeguards as the girls opposite did last summer off Scarborough Beach.
The U.S. Lifeguard Association estimates that in the USA nearly 100 people die in rip currents each year, and that lifeguards saved over 48,000 Americans from rips in 2015 alone. The typical victim struggles against the unrelenting pull, panics, and eventually succumbs to exhaustion. Rips can form on any beach with waves, in nearly any conditions. They occur when the water is pushed up onto the beach, by the surf or wind, flows back out to sea in narrow, concentrated channels and they can be anywhere from ten to 200 feet wide. To make matters worse, their outward course often dulls the breaking waves and creates the illusion of calmer waters for inexperienced beachgoers. Lifeguards call rips “drowning machines.” Within the City of Stirling rips are nearly always marked by "Dangerous Current" or "No Swimming" signs like the ones below. Please do us all a favour and stay well clear of these areas. If you are in any doubt, don't go out, ask the Lifeguards or Beach Inspectors for advise on the best place to swim.

Today, rips kill more Australians than bushfires, floods, cyclones, and sharks combined.
There’s not one single message that works on all beaches. Sometimes swim parallel is great, sometimes it doesn’t work. Same for floating.
Rips are a complex, dynamic hazard and the multitude of variables—swimming ability, current strength, circulation, wave size—make the threat nearly impossible to solve with one-size-fits-all advice. No single “escape strategy” is appropriate all the time. If you’re not a strong swimmer, stay afloat and signal for help; if you can swim, consider paddling parallel to the beach toward breaking waves—though be mindful of the potential circulating current.

The best advise I can give is ALWAYS, ALWAYS swim at a patrolled beach, preferably between the red & yellow flags. If you get caught by a rip, relay float with it and raise an arm to attract attention of the Lifeguards. Remember the worst case is, when the Rip fades out, and they ALWAYS DO, you will have to simply swim or body surf your way back to the beach!


Rips don't kill, inexperience and panic does! 

Don't be a statistic, stay calm, relax and you will eventually be able to make your way back to shore.