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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

AIBU - to say rip currents can get you in shallow water and body boards are actually quite dangerous

108 replies

Tillylovestomatoes · 24/08/2021 07:17

So whenever I’ve heard about people getting into trouble at the beach I’ve always assumed it was either unsupervised kids or people swimming / surfing in deep water. I never thought anything like that could happen to me and my family because we always stayed in shallow water close to shore. I thought body boarding in the shallows was safe, especially when the tide was coming in, so me and the kids would paddle out to about thigh height, get on our boards and let the waves bring us back to shore. Unfortunately we were doing just that when we got pulled into a rip current and carried out to sea.

Rip currents can travel up to 2m per second and can pull you out the length of a football pitch in the space of 1 minute. You don’t even realise it’s happening until you suddenly see the beach looking very far away.

By the time I realised something was wrong and leapt off my board to test the water depth - I was up to my neck in water. I grabbed the kids and tried to wade back holding them above the water but the current was too strong and just kept pushing us back even further until the water started coming over my head. I had to scream for the kids to swim. Luckily, they are both good swimmers because we’d lost our boards in the panic. The boards should have been attached to our arms but the Velcro straps were rubbish and always came undone.

I swam to get the boards back and managed to grab two of them but by that time my kids had drifted further away. They were swimming on their backs by this point but I found it hard to catch them up and get back to them. The sight of them in the deep open water will haunt me for the rest of my life. Even though it was only a few metres they have never seemed to far away and out of reach. I really didn’t think we were going to make it.

We were incredibly fortunate that day because we had positioned ourselves near a local surf school which had trained life guards working for them and they came to rescue us. If we’d been on a more isolated beach then I dread to think what could have happened. We didn’t see any flags or signs to indicate any danger and we hadn’t managed to spot anything untoward from the shore. The beach we were on only had a voluntary life guard presence at weekends so lots of scope for accidents to happen for people like me not fully understanding the risks.

Prior to this, I’d heard of rip currents but didn’t know how common they were. I also didn’t know that they could pull you out from shallow water or really understand how quickly they could pull you in. (Apparently a rip current on the same beach had previously pulled in a horse and rider cantering along the shoreline). I had also thought body boarding in shallow water with me present was relatively safe. I was very wrong and would hate any other families to make the same mistake. I for one will never get on a body board again but I see so many people using them on social media. So AIBU to highlight that rip currents very much can get you in the shallow water and that body boarding might not be as safe as you think it is?

Please take care x

Have name changed as I haven’t been able to talk about this to anyone in RL yet. Am still too upset but wanted to highlight dangers for others before the bank holiday.

OP posts:
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6
SmokeyDevil · 24/08/2021 07:22

Yanbu and sadly more will likely die this weekend as they either wont know this or won't listen. Sad

HumbugWhale · 24/08/2021 07:22

That sounds terrifying. I hope you are all ok.

I saw something scary happen to a girls aged about 12-13 body boarding when the current took her into deep water near a rock ground. She was pa icking she was going to hit the rocks and screaming and going under the water. Luckily a huge, strong guy on the beach ran out into the sea and was able to grab her and drag her away and to safety but even he struggled and look quite shaken by it.

HumbugWhale · 24/08/2021 07:23

*rock groyne

FuzzyPuffling · 24/08/2021 07:25

I bodyboard a lot and this is why you should only go in the sea on a lifeguarded beach and between the red and yellow flags.

bridgetreilly · 24/08/2021 07:26

YANBU

But you can learn how to spot and escape them.

MsTSwift · 24/08/2021 07:27

Terrifying. What are you supposed to do? I remember being told to parallel to the beach to get out of the rip tide but guess not as simple as that

TheQueef · 24/08/2021 07:27

Blimey that sounds scary.
Glad you are all ok Tilly

Hungry675tf · 24/08/2021 07:29

This happened to us recently too. Swept one of the kids onto the rocks, water was only knee deep but had suddenly become very rough without warning.

Hope you're ok Flowers

LubaLuca · 24/08/2021 07:29

YANBU, it's a very scary thing to experience, and something that all people going in the sea should familiarise themselves with, learn to spot and know how to escape from.

The key is to swim parallel to the beach to get yourself out of the current, which I realise is easier said than done when you're panicking about being swept out to sea. It's a narrow band of current though, and it won't pull you under, you just need to get yourself out to the side of it before you're too tired.

Wheretoeattweenandteen · 24/08/2021 07:31

Scary pp

People see the sign rip current but don't quite realise what it is. Maybe they should add some more info about them m

jclm · 24/08/2021 07:32

Very scary. Well done for escaping and getting safe.

Can I ask what beach this was?

We live very close to several beaches and are in the sea quite often. We do as you did, staying in knee high water sometimes with body boards but often just in wetsuits. We have never had an experience like this but I know some families put buoyancy aids on their children. There are a few beaches near us with known rip tides but we avoid these. I will try to see if there is a rip tide before going in but I think they are often hard to spot.

phishy · 24/08/2021 07:33

That’s terrifying, so glad you are all safe. 💐

I swam to get the boards back and managed to grab two of them but by that time my kids had drifted further away. They were swimming on their backs by this point but I found it hard to catch them up and get back to them. The sight of them in the deep open water will haunt me for the rest of my life.

I don’t quite understand why you swam to get the boards back and let the kids drift away? Or did you need the boards to get back?

AtticusHoysAnus · 24/08/2021 07:33

Glad you're ok.

There's plenty of good info out there.

Just letting it carry you seems to be the standard, you won't win in a fight against the sea.

Original poster
Tillylovestomatoes · 24/08/2021 07:34

MsTSwift If you get caught, the advice is to keep hold of your boards or (if you’ve lost them) to float on your back until you have calmed down, then to swim across the current parallel to shoreline to get out of true current and to get back to shore. We were trying to do that but my kids in particular found it quite disorientating because we’d got sucked so far out that it was hard to see the shoreline or have any sense of direction. Plus I was desperate just to get them holding on to a board again as we didn’t seem to be getting very far with our swimming and I was terrified about them getting tired and exhausted.

OP posts:
TooManyAnimals94 · 24/08/2021 07:35

Felt a bit sick reading that. I'm not a particularly strong swimmer so when I go to the beach I tend to just paddle in the surf.

YANBU to point out your experience but sounds like you did all the right things and stayed close enough to the lifeguards so they could help you. Beyond that, it's up to any individual which beaches they swim or paddle board at or whether they weigh up the risk and decide it's safer to do those activities in a closed body of water.
Glad you're OK and hope you're not too shaken. You'll probably find the kids get over it quicker because most children lack that 'what if' response to danger.

BashfulClam · 24/08/2021 07:36

Did you have buoyancy aids? The best thing is not to swim against the rip and try to swim across it.

Goneback2school · 24/08/2021 07:37

@MsTSwift

Terrifying. What are you supposed to do? I remember being told to parallel to the beach to get out of the rip tide but guess not as simple as that
A rip can be spotted in advance if you see an area of calm water between waves breaking as normal on both sides. If you get caught, swim parallel to shore until you can get back in. Also if you lose body boards etc don't try get them, just get safe. The best thing is to only swim in lifeguard areas.

Op, how scary. Water can be terrifying.

ErrolTheDragon · 24/08/2021 07:37

We didn’t see any flags or signs to indicate any danger
I'm sure you know this, but you're going in the sea, the absence of flags or signs means nothing - there's many hundreds of miles of coastline. You need to look for flags and signs (and preferably a lifeguard) or have local knowledge to know where it's reasonable to do it.

Robertthebrucesthistle · 24/08/2021 07:39

If you are going into the sea especially with children then always ensure it’s a lifeguarded beach.
Learn how to spot rips (less waves) and what to do to escape them (swim parallel). I live near the coast and have taught my child how to look at the topography of the beach and figure out where the rips are.
If I go to an unfamiliar beach I’m hyper aware of where rips could be, always check forecast (magic seaweed) and only ever enter water within the two hour rule of high tide.
I love the sea and I’m in most days, but it’s about ensuring risks are kept to a minimum.
Pleased you’re safe.

Original poster
Tillylovestomatoes · 24/08/2021 07:40

Phishy We’d been pulled out incredibly far - I didn’t think we’d make it without getting tired and by that point we were out of our depth. It was all so quick, there wasn’t really anytime to think things through. The boards were only a few metres away so I went to grab them thinking that was the best option.

OP posts:
Haggisfish3 · 24/08/2021 07:40

They are more common at low tide as well.

Billybagpuss · 24/08/2021 07:41

Rips are common, very pleased you were n a life guard area,

The best advice if you get caught in a rip is to swim parallel to the beach until you are clear of it, you can’t out swim it as it’s too strong.

BigRedFrog · 24/08/2021 07:41

Rip tides are lethal. People don't understand how powerful they are.
Panic causes a lot of fatalities when caught in one unfortunately.
If you're caught in one and you can't swim parallel to the shore, then float on your back and try not to panic. The more you panic, the worse you make it for yourself. Easier said than done I know, but try, because the more you panic, the more you lose concentration.
So....try to swim parallel to the shore, if not possible try to float on your back with the rip.
Always swim only where the yellow flags are. They're there for your safety.
Take care and stay safe.

Aprilx · 24/08/2021 07:43

That sounds scary, but if you know what to do and can swim, it should be relatively straightforward to get out of it, float with the current, swim parallel to the shore etc. When I moved to Australia I was very close to the beach and was a bit concerned, so I looked into it, my Aussie friends were relatively relaxed about them as they all knew what to do.

SilverTimpani · 24/08/2021 07:44

God, how frightening - well done for handling it calmly in the moment, you saved your and your children’s lives.

Really helpful to have this spelled out - thank you.

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