How to Recognize and Understand Rip Currents in the Ocean

If you plan to swim in the ocean, knowing how to recognize and avoid rip currents will increase your safety dramatically.

Things You'll Need

• Swimsuits

Instructions

1. Look at the ocean from the beach. The higher your perspective, the better. Relax your gaze so that you are seeing the whole stretch of ocean.

2. Notice that all the water moving in swells toward the beach, pushes against the beach, and then must find a way back out. When it does, it forms into dark, choppy rivers within the ocean, known as rip currents. The brown color is from the sand pulled away from the beach; the foaminess and choppiness are from the current's confrontation with the incoming swell.

3. Note the shape of these areas. Usually they are wider at the beach, the mouth of the rip current, and then stretch straight out or at a slight angle into the ocean. The far end of the rip current usually forms a large roundish shape and is known as the head of the rip current.

4. Avoid these rip currents when swimming, because they have the potential to sweep you out far from the beach.

Tips & Warnings

• You will usually find a rip current running alongside any solid formation stretching into the ocean from the beach, such as a pier, a jetty or a rock formation.

• Know how to escape a rip current (see "How to Escape a Rip Current in the Ocean").

• If you have any condition that would impair or limit your ability to engage in physical activity, please consult a physician before attempting this activity.