How to Survive a Rip Current

What do you do if you get sucked into a rip current?

Here are a few tips on how to survive a powerful rip current:

Difficulty: Moderate

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• a calm head
• swimming knowledge
• patience

1. The first thing you want to do if you find yourself being pulled further and further from the shoreline is to stay calm. If you panic, you will undoubtedly wear yourself down and become exhausted.

2. Calmly, allow yourself to flow with the rip current. Don't fight it. A rip current is a jet of water swiftly flowing away from the shoreline, perpendicular. A rip current may pull you sideways before it pulls you outward.

3. Once you get out past the sandbar and the current stops pulling, start swimming sideways until you get out of the current stream. You should be able to swim in towards the shoreline at this point. Allow the waves to help push you to shore.

4. If you feel that you are too tired to swim back to shore, call for help or signal by waving your arms in the air. If you see someone in the water who needs help, don't immediately rush into the water. It may be too dangerous for you to try and rescue them. The best thing to do is call for a lifeguard or police for assistance.

Tips & Warnings

• don't go into the ocean alone
• remain calm if you get caught in a rip current
• swim parallel until you are out of the rip
• only swim when there is a lifeguard on duty
• be aware of your surroundings with landmarks
• The number one killer on beaches every year is due to drowning from rip currents. Be aware of the location of rip currents and know how to stay calm in order to escape one.

Resources

• Harris, Tom (n.d.). How Rip Currents Work
• National Weather Service (2008). Rip Currents: Break the Grip of the Rip

[Lorelai]

on 5/19/2008 I had this experience in Barbados,where I decided to swim even though the red flag was up and there were no lifeguards.I stayed with the current,and slowly
worked my way in,and was DUMPED onto the sand,It was frightening ,but a good experience,and cured me of my South African arrogance,as I had swum in the Atlantic since being a kid and thought I knew it all!!

[yaaah69]

on 5/15/2008 I was caught in an undertow @ Ocean Beach in San Francisco , I remember swimming out for about 10 strokes , but when I looked up the shoreline was a thin strip , the current was horizontal to the beach , but at first I panicked and tryed to swim straight in. Then I calmed down and swam with the current , and kept cutting for the shore. I ended up about a mile from where I started. I learned a great lesson that day. Thanks for the article.

[amylaine]

on 5/15/2008 Awesome article, I so want to go to the ocean now.

[Pterocarpous]

on 5/15/2008 On the east coast they're called undertows. It's good to see a post on how to respond when caught in one. I come from a coastal tourist area and it's true, folks unaware of what to do when caught in an undertow (or rip current) do regularly end up drowning. It's a sad fact particularly since its unavoidable. Thank you for the eHow.

Joan

[ladym33]

on 5/15/2008 This is very good advice.