RIP tides - stay safe

[SaintGermain]

As a former surf lifesaver I constantly find myself when I'm at a beach automatically in patrol mode, and I'm always troubled seeing the amount of people that enter the surf straight into a rip zone. This includes, and most worrying of all children. I know a lot of people are kind of aware of what to do if caught in a rip, but it has been brought to my attention recently that a lot of people aren't aware of what a rip actually looks like or where the safest place to swim at the beach is if there is no flagged area.

One person will drown every two to three days this summer... 90% of those fatalities will be rip-related. Here are a few things that will help you and your kids stay safe this summer. I have also put together a few images that show what to look for.

1. The easiest thing to remember is that often the safest/calmest most enticing looking area along a beach is usually a rip. A rip is usually the area devoid of wave activity and appears darker and deceptively calmer. It can sometimes appear milky or turbulent, but it is always pretty much void of wave activity. All that water coming in via waves has to go back out somehow, this is what a rip is. (see pics).

1. Always take 5-10 mins when you get to the beach to observe surf conditions and identify where these areas are.

1. If you are caught in a rip, DO NOT PANIC. Go into floating mode and raise one arm as a distress signal when possible. See which direction the rip is taking you, is it straight out or at an angle? once you have determined this, and if you have the energy, swim to the right or left of the direction of flow, never against. Some rips can move at 3 times the speed of an olympic swimmer, you won't win! If you cannot swim out to either side of the rip, just go with it. Most rips won't take you out very far, and will usually spit you out not long after they take you, so keep calm and save your energy for the swim back to shore.

1. If you have kids, show them these pictures, educate them and make them aware. You can't always be watching them, and it is only a matter of a few metres each way of the point of entry to the water that could mean them being safe, or instantly caught in a rip.

Obviously the safest place to swim is always between the flags on a patrolled beach, but this isn't always practical given the immensity of our coast line and number of beautiful beaches. Of course there are many other factors that can come into play when it comes to beach safety, but rips are the No.1 killer. They are not hard to identify, and 10 mins observation before entering the surf is much easier than body retrieval.

*The darker/calmer areas in the pics are rips. The one with purple dye shows rip movement.

Written by Kenny Jewell.

I can only upload half the photos so will upload the other half including the one with the dye, in the comments if allowed.

Thank you. I always tell my two kids. Lie on your back and float. Try not to panic.

Me and my father got caught in one once in France. We went with it outwards and then swam back to shore once we were free of it. The strength of it was incredible.

I am so glad you posted this really important information because I would not have known a rip tide even if I tripped over it.

Great post, I think unless you are regularly engaged with the sea you just don’t know about things like this. I’m not a life saver but I did do courses during my dive training and I’m always on patrol when I get to the beach.

my kids have learnt from RNLI (London not the coast!), ‘float to live’.

Thanks for sharing. I learned about this from a tv programme about the RNLI and they explained it on there, but lots of people have no idea and as you say, that area of the water looks the calmest and they are lulled into a false sense of security thinking it must be the safest. When it absolutely is not.

A great reminder for everyone - imagine if this post saves someone's life.

Thank you OP I will share this with DS and his friends

many thanks for this

I watch this show too - Saving Lives at Sea on BBC. I’m in awe of the volunteers who give their time for nothing to save people.

But it’s also taught me how little I know about sea conditions, tides etc. despite living by the coast for most of my life.

Whenever we go on a break we always make a point of visiting the lifeboat station shop wherever we are around the coast.

This is really helpful, thank you!

Someone mentioned buoyancy aids upthread. Does anyone know what the safest buoyancy aids are for younger children (7 & under)? I'm sure I've heard that some tend to put children in the face down position but I'm not sure which to avoid/go for?

Thanks for this op. Could I ask you a couple of questions about it?

in those photos where the water has no white and just appears blue - the rip place - will that move, or will that be a rip zone for hours/permanently?

also (sorry) if a rip drags you away from the shore, what is it that actually causes drowning? Does it drag you under or do people become tired?

@Holiday24it will carry you out to see and the natural reaction is to start floundering in the water in a panic and try to swim back to the shore.

Even a strong swimmer will tire quickly and that’s how they drown because they have battled against it to go in the opposite direction and the rip tide will always be stronger than them.

The stronger you fight against it the weaker you become.

Thats why they say go float on your back and let it carry you out and the swim off to the side and back to the shore or call for help.

It’s a bit like running up a down escalator but in reverse!

Sea Palling in Norfolk is notorious for rip tides. There are warning notices with photos up in the toilets near the slope up to the beach.

Wells next the Sea also has scary tides, also lots of warning information and tide times up on the RNLI Facebook page.

Always worth googling the beach before you go and check the warnings specific to that beach.

Thank you too, I will show my children I had no idea

Thanks for this. I went swimming in the sea at Milford on Sea recently and got caught in a current. Luckily I was able to swim round a rocky bit and then into shore. But as you say it all appears very deceptively calm.

I know about rip tides and remind my teens all the time. I only go on lifeguarded beaches. Or the beach I know very well when the locals are in as well.
I wear a orange float too. Don't care if I look like an old lady bobbing about doing breaststroke.

I was surprised when we moved to Cornwall last year that I was totally ignorant of rip tides. Within a couple of weeks there were rip tide deaths. I was shocked having spent 6 weeks by the sea each year as a child and not being aware. I realise now that it was drummed into us that you only swim within the flags and no swimming at all if no lifeguards.

Awesome post - the pictures make it easier to remember. I'm going to send it to my (young adult DC), and post it in my shop at the coast. Thanks so much.

I live in Normandy and we have a deceptive tide here. Largest in Europe I believe and it’s said to come in faster than a galloping horse.
I’ve been caught in it once, but walked up the coast with it because you couldn’t do otherwise.
The life guard helicopter goes over at every tide turn.

Thank you - I've always been fearful to go in the sea past knee height as I know I have no clue about these things

I live in the Canary Islands and this advice is given constantly.. it’s great advice 🙏🏼

Such a valuable post - and it does constantly need reiterating (I’m also a surfer). More people these days seem versed in what to do if you become caught in a rip current, but there’s less on how to recognise and avoid them in the first place. They’re not an uncommon freak of nature but there on pretty much every shore.