Rip Current

Rip currents can be a serious threat and are responsible for over 100 deaths every year in the United States. A rip threat is a strong surface flow that is usually a narrow and extremely powerful current of water that runs perpendicular to the coast that heads back out to sea. These strong water flows can happen at any given time, however during tide changes it can make the current rip more dangerous. These rip currents can travel quickly and can pull a swimmer into the strong flow unexpectedly. Rip currents are commonly mistaken for an undertow, and undertow is a current that pulls a swimming under the water and down to the sand. A rip current doesn't pull a swimmer under water the strong current just moves out to sea. The biggest mistake swimmers encounter is panicking when pulled into a rip current. People tend to swim forward back to shore when the strong current is pulling them out to sea, a swimmers can trier quickly and have no energy left, and drown. The best solution is not to panic and swim parallel to the shore line to get out of the narrow band of water or relax and let the current take you out to sea, once the current is just off shore it dies out and you can swim safely back to land.