June 2016- National Rip Current Awareness Week
A note from the author—
Hello readers! Summer is officially here… warm weather, summer holidays, and
lots of traveling to the beach! As many of you know, I try to change up the health
ministry topics to fit a lot of different audiences. This month, I decided to feature a health
awareness topic that is celebrated from June 5- June 11 each year, National Rip
Current Awareness Week. Personally, I have never heard of this national health
observance, but have heard a lot about injuries and deaths related to rip tides over the
years. This month, join me in learning more about rip currents and how you can protect
yourself and your family this summer.
What is National Rip Current Awareness Week?
In an effort to heighten public awareness of rip currents at surf beaches, each year
NOAA designates the first full week of June (this year, June 5th-11th) as national Rip
Current Awareness Week, coinciding with the traditional start of the summer vacation
season.
Each year, as summer begins, the United States Lifesaving Association sponsors
National Beach Safety Week in an effort to remind beachgoers to use caution in the
aquatic environment. National Beach Safety Week has been changed to coincide with
Rip Current Awareness Week. National Beach Safety Week and Rip Current
Awareness Week begin the first Sunday of June and end seven (7) days later on the
following Sunday. The USLA National Public Education committee is responsible for
coordinating National Beach Safety Week through direct efforts and through the nine
USLA regions. These regions are responsible for efforts within their area.
Rip currents are water moving away from shore. The strongest rip currents can attain
speeds reaching 8 feet per second; this is faster than an Olympic swimmer can sprint!
On average, more people die every year from rip currents than from shark attacks,
tornadoes or lightning. According to the United States Lifesaving Association, 80
percent of surf beach rescues are attributed to rip currents, and more than 100 people
die annually from drowning in rip currents.
What are “rip currents”?
Rip currents can be found on many surf beaches every day. Rip currents can occur at
any beach with breaking waves, including the Great Lakes, and most often form at low
spots or breaks in sandbars and near structures like piers, jetties and groins. According
to the U.S. Lifesaving Association (USLA), more than 80 percent of the surf beach
rescues performed by lifeguards each year involve rip currents.
The definition of rip current is: A powerful channel of water that flows away from the
shore. They can be narrow or more than 50 yards wide. They are not always easy to
identify, but signs of rip currents include a break in the pattern of incoming waves; a
channel of churning, choppy water; an area with a noticeably different water color; and a
line of foam, seaweed or debris moving steadily seaward.
Myths about rip currents
A rip current is a horizontal current. Rip currents do not pull people under the water–they pull people away from shore. Drowning deaths occur when people pulled offshore
are unable to keep themselves afloat and swim to shore. This may be due to any
combination of fear, panic, exhaustion, or lack of swimming skills.
Why are rip currents so dangerous?
Rips are fast-moving currents of water that can pull even the strongest swimmer away
from the shore. The United States Lifesaving Association estimates that the annual
number of deaths due to rip currents on our nation’s beaches exceeds 100. Rip currents
account for more than 80 percent of rescues performed by beach lifeguards.
How do rip currents form?
On a normal day, waves crash against the shore at an angle, allowing water to come in
and flow back out with little more than a tug at your feet. Larger waves can knock you
over and create a bigger tug back out to sea, but it's easy for most people to overcome
the normal push and pull of the water.
It's when the waves crash perpendicular to the beach that we start running into
problems.
As shown above, a horizontal circulation forms in the water when waves crash
perpendicular to the shore. Some water flows back to sea underneath the waves, but a
good bit of it will start traveling parallel to the beach in a "longshore current.”” When
waves crash along the beach at an angle, the longshore current flows in the same
direction, but when they break perpendicular to the shore, it creates a longshore current
that goes both left and right of the wave. A strong offshore current will develop when
two longshore currents collide with each other, and water in these colliding currents will
rush back out to sea as a rip current.
These dangerous currents are most common when it's windy, but hurricanes that are
hundreds (if not thousands of miles) away can kick up waves that create dangerous rip
currents even when the weather is calm and sunny on the beach.
How to spot a rip current
There are several ways you can identify the risk for rip currents before you get in the
water.
The first, obviously, is to listen to the lifeguards or weather forecasts when they tell
you not to go in the water because the risk for rip currents is too high. People drown
trying to save other people from rip currents, so don't risk someone else's life because
you're too stupid or rebellious to follow instructions.
Beaches across the United States will raise flags on the beach letting visitors know what
conditions are like that day. A yellow flag means "medium hazard," or "moderate surf/rip
currents," and a red flag means "high hazard." Two red flags means that the water is
closed because high surf or strong rip currents are too dangerous for swimmers.
Rip currents also provide visual cues for you to identify potential hazard zones before
getting in the water.
 One of the best visual identifiers of a rip current is to look out for gaps between
the waves. The calmer gap between waves may look safer for you to play
without worry about waves washing over your head or overtaking little Timmy,
but a small patch of calm water in an otherwise choppy sea is often a rip current.
One of these gaps is pictured above—the rip current is in between the two red
arrows. NOAA has dozens of photos of rip currents on their page dedicated to
the phenomenon.
 Look out for discolored water near the shore. Rip currents tend to drag large
amounts of sand and sediment back out to sea with them, so many rip currents
are easily identified by a noticeable jet of crud in the water extending away from
the shore.
 Rip currents are also common in areas with sand bars (both surface and
submerged), piers, jetties, groins, and anything else that sticks out from the
beach that could catch a longshore current and cause it to start flowing away
from shore.
The Truth about Rip Currents
Now, rip currents don't pull you under the water like so many television shows use as a
plot device; instead, they pull you away from shore very quickly. If you're ever caught in
one, don't panic. You'll start drifting away from the shore and your first instinct will be to
panic and try to swim back as quickly as possible. Even the best swimmers can't swim
against a rip current—since you can't fight the power of the water, you have to be
smarter than the water.
If you're a good swimmer and you find yourself getting pulled out to sea, you have to
swim parallel to the beach so you can get out of the current. Once you escape the
influence of the outbound water, you can start swimming back towards shore. If you're
not able to swim out of the current, signal for help by waving (not flailing) your arms and
calling out for help while you try to stay afloat. The current will eventually let up and
you'll stop driving away from shore; by that point, it's a matter of being able to stay afloat
long enough for help to arrive.
As much as people don't want to hear it, getting caught in a rip current is your fault if
you ignore warnings and don't know what to look out for. Don't drown (or risk the lives of
those who have to save you) because you're determined to go swimming even though it
isn't safe to do so. Thinking "it won't happen to me" is the best way to make sure it
happens to you.
How to avoid rip currents
The American Red Cross advises beachgoers to always swim in designated swimming
areas with lifeguards on duty. Swimmers should check beach conditions before entering
the water and obey all warnings including any for possible rip currents.
The following key points are good to remember in order to avoid rip currents:
 Never swim alone.
 Be cautious at all times, especially when swimming at unguarded beaches. If in
doubt, don’t go out!
 Whenever possible, swim at a lifeguard protected beach.
 Obey all instructions and orders from lifeguards.
 Only swim at a beach with lifeguards. The chances of drowning at a beach with
lifeguards are 1 in 18 million.
 Don’t assume! Great weather for the beach does not always mean it’s safe to
swim, or even play in the shallows. Rip currents often form on calm, sunny
days.
 If you see someone in trouble, get help from a lifeguard. If a lifeguard is not
available, have someone call 9-1-1. Throw the rip current victim something that
floats and yell instructions on how to escape.
Remember, many people drown while trying to save someone else from a rip
current.
How to survive a rip current
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If caught in a rip current, remain calm to conserve energy and think clearly.
Don’t fight the current. Swim out of the current in a direction following the
shoreline. When out of the current, swim towards shore.
I repeat, DON’T FIGHT THE CURRENT. It’s a natural treadmill that travels an
average speed of 1-2 feet per second, but has been measures as fast as 8 feet
per second—faster than an Olympics swimmer.
If you are unable to swim out of the rip current, float or calmly tread water. When
out of the current, swim towards shore.
Relax and float to conserve energy. Staying calm may save your life.
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Do NOT try to swim directly in to shore. Swim PARALLEL to the shoreline until
you can escape the current’s pull. When free from the pull of the current, swim at
an angle away from the current towards the shore.
If you are still unable to reach shore, relax, face the shore, and call or wave for
help, drawing attention to yourself.
**REMEMBER: Wave and yell… swim parallel!
Resources
http://www.ripcurrents.noaa.gov/
http://www.ripcurrents.noaa.gov/surviving.shtml
http://www.weather.gov/safetycampaign
http://www.redcross.org/news/event/Rip-Current-Awareness
http://www.usla.org/?page=SAFETYWEEK
http://www.islasurf.org/rip-current-awareness-week/
http://today.tamu.edu/2015/06/04/rip-current-survey-could-save-lives/
http://thevane.gawker.com/learn-how-to-identify-rip-currents-so-you-dont-die-on-s1692434160