Keeping calm, a little knowledge, and swimming near a lifeguard can help you survive or avoid the lethal clutches of a rip current, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).
Rip currents, also called rip tides, are channels of water flowing away from surf beaches. They form at breaks in sand bars and around structures like jetties, NOAA says on its Rip Currents Safety website, ripcurrents.noaa.gov. They can kill. A grammar school student died in the surf off Belmar this week, purportedly drowned in a rip current.
If you're not sure what a rip current looks like, you can find out online at NOAA's rip currents site or even on You Tube and on state or local emergency management websites.
Once you're at the beach, you can ask the lifeguards or other beach patrol staffers about rip conditions. You can also check your local surf conditions by going online to the National Weather Service's Surf and Rip Current Forecast, http://www.weather.gov/phi/surfrip4.
If you happen to be caught in a rip current, here's what NOAA says you should do:
Don't fight a rip current. Rips travel at an average speed of 1 to 2 feet per second but have been measured at 8 feet per second. That's faster than an Olympics swimmer.
Relax and float to conserve energy. Staying calm can save your life.
Don't swim directly to shore. Swim along the shoreline until you no longer feel the current's pull. Then swim toward shore at an angle away from the current.
If you think you can't make it to the shore, then relax, face the shore, and signal for help by shouting or waving.
No matter how you learn about rips, learn about them and be aware of them before you go in the water. And, if you do go in the water, only swim at a beach that has lifeguards, NOAA says. According to data from the U.S. Lifesaving Association, the chances of drowning at a guarded beach are 1 in 18 million.
Rip currents, also called rip tides, are channels of water flowing away from surf beaches. They form at breaks in sand bars and around structures like jetties, NOAA says on its Rip Currents Safety website, ripcurrents.noaa.gov. They can kill. A grammar school student died in the surf off Belmar this week, purportedly drowned in a rip current.
If you're not sure what a rip current looks like, you can find out online at NOAA's rip currents site or even on You Tube and on state or local emergency management websites.
Once you're at the beach, you can ask the lifeguards or other beach patrol staffers about rip conditions. You can also check your local surf conditions by going online to the National Weather Service's Surf and Rip Current Forecast, http://www.weather.gov/phi/surfrip4.
If you happen to be caught in a rip current, here's what NOAA says you should do:
Don't fight a rip current. Rips travel at an average speed of 1 to 2 feet per second but have been measured at 8 feet per second. That's faster than an Olympics swimmer.
Relax and float to conserve energy. Staying calm can save your life.
Don't swim directly to shore. Swim along the shoreline until you no longer feel the current's pull. Then swim toward shore at an angle away from the current.
If you think you can't make it to the shore, then relax, face the shore, and signal for help by shouting or waving.
No matter how you learn about rips, learn about them and be aware of them before you go in the water. And, if you do go in the water, only swim at a beach that has lifeguards, NOAA says. According to data from the U.S. Lifesaving Association, the chances of drowning at a guarded beach are 1 in 18 million.
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