Escaping a Rip

You are swimming towards the shore, suddenly you realize that you aren’t moving forward anymore.  You can feel the water pulling you out away from the shore, into the ocean.  You stop swimming and decide to try to stand and walk the remainder of the way.  You can’t find the bottom to stand. You are growing more and more tired….panic starts to set in, How am I going to make it to the shore?

What do you do?

I have been there and let me tell you it is scary!  The first thing you do is DO NOT PANIC!  Rip currents are scary but they do not pull you under, they only pull you out.  Of course you brought your noodle (Anything to float on) because those folks at Bring A Noodle drilled in your head not to enter the water past your ankles without one!

The next thing you do is FLOAT.  Relax, float on your noodle, float on your back, just float….conserve your energy for the swim back to shore.  Face the shore and if you can try to signal for help.  I have seen it recommended to wave both arms above your head.  In practicum sounds like a great way to signal for help.  In reality you will most likely go under water!  So try to wave one hand if you can.  Another thing I learned is that the beach is loud!  While I was struggling, I was screaming as loud as I could but no one could hear me.  Try to signal for help, try to yell for help….but most importantly SAVE YOUR ENERGY!

Now here is the scary thing and it is going to go against everything in your being, but unless you are a very strong swimmer, let the rip current pull you out.  Rip currents are very strong close to the beach, but as they go out into the ocean their strength dissipates beginning near where the wave first break (50-100 yards).  Seasoned surfers look for Rip Currents to use for a “ride” out past the breaking waves so that they can save their energy to surf back to the shore.  Do the same thing!

I hear all the time and read about swimming parallel to the shore to get out of the rip current, but I will tell you from my experience this is really difficult.  At a water park, have you every tried to climb out of a fast moving lazy river?  It can be very difficult, but if you ride your float out into the wave pool, the strength of the lazy river weakens and you can easily climb out of the pool.   This is basically the same principle.  Trying to swim parallel out of a fast moving rip current can exhaust you.  Also, swimming parallel to the shore after the waves break will about drown you.  When I was floating on my back trying to swim parallel to the shore, the waves broke literally on top of me causing me to spin under the water several times.  So in my experience the best thing to do is to ride the rip out past the breaking waves and when you feel its grip/speed weaken THEN swim Parallel to the shore out of the rip.

Once you get a fair distance away from the Rip Current, ride the waves back to the shore  Be careful not to swim back into the Rip Current.  At this point you will be very thankful that you remembered to Bring your Noodle as you can use it to “surf” back to safety!

What do you if you see someone stuck in a Rip Current?  Unless you are a trained rip current rescuer, the best thing you can do to rescue someone is to slide or throw them something to float on, tell them not to panic and to float, and then go get help (call 911 or get a lifeguard).  26% of all Rip Current deaths are rescuers who are able to rescue the person stuck but completely exhaust themselves doing so and then can not make it out of the rip themselves. It is a person’s instinct when they are drowning to try to climb and/or get out of the water.  Often times the person you are trying to rescue will try to climb on top of your head or shoulder, pushing you under the water and will drown you.    If you have to go in to help someone, bring a noodle (anything you can float on) and use the rip to swim to the person.  Then signal for help, float on the rip until it’s grip loosens, swim parallel to the shore and ride the waves back in.

There are over 60,000 lifeguard rescues from Rip Currents in the US every year.  If you go to the beach at any frequency the chances of encountering a rip are high.  Rip currents are completely survivable if you maintain your composure, know what to do,  and can float!  If you can FLOAT, you can survive!  So anytime you enter into the water past your ankle, ALWAYS bring a noodle!