Danger Rip Current: Instructional Guide 

Thanks a lot for the post! When I was a teen, we used to sneak into the beach at night, and sleep under the boardwalk to watch the sunrise. We did stupid crap like make a fire there and put it out when cops were coming to look for us. And sneak up on couples to watch them "do it"! :P As always, we went into the water after day break when no lifeguards were there yet. One of these rip currents took us and we couldn't get back. I was the shortest and asked my friend if he can stand cuz I was tired. He said "just barely" and I put my hand on his shoulder and we both went under. I was so tired, I panicked and couldn't keep my head above. I felt him try to push me up and I drank so much water. I KNEW I was gonna die! Ironically, the first thing I thought was "My grandma's gonna kill me!" (she raised me). Then as I had no more strength, I was actually relaxed and ready to go. It's really true that your life flashes before your eyes! Then someone grabbed my hair and threw me on a surfboard and I saw all my friends around me on surfboards too! These surfers came outta nowhere! And this man was screaming at me and I was in so much shock I didn't know what he was saying. Later my friend told me he was screaming those "swim along the shore" instructions you talk about! Sorry for the long post, but I hope anyone reading will learn something from a bunch of dumb teens!

the best video i have ever seen about the rip currents, really good idea to let good swimmer try to swim to shore in rip currents.even if so close you cant get to the shore.

I'm surprised they don't have big signs on entering the beach saying "if you feel yourself being pulled out to sea ..." So many preventable fatalities from rips it seems odd it isn't more commonly signed.

Born and raised on Maui. I am not a lifeguard, but there is no way in hell that I wouldn't jump in the ocean to help someone in need local or visitors. It's just how it is. I know my ocean, it is a beast. It's at the point where my friends and I are looking at each other saying who's turn now for rescue someone. It's my responsibility to do it, my ocean it is what it is just the way I grew up. All I ask is to educate yourself, read magazines, newspapers, listen to local news/surf cast. No be shame for ask questions, asking questions WILL safe your life. Use common sense.

It’s so scary watching him swim as hard as he can towards the shore but he only gets pulled further and further out… It really shows how powerful these rip currents are.

Came here to understand what happened to me years ago. At that time I was around 5' tall, not very strong, and I was wake boarding in Cali. I got caught in a riptide and I cannot believe how similar it felt to the bottom 1st person video from this guy! It was a very scary experience, but what baffles me is how I got saved. I was screaming in the water due to my lack of knowledge of what was going on, and my friend jumped in and swam both me and his ass BACK TO SHORE THROUGH THE RIPTIDE. It was actually insane to comprehend, it is even now to this day. I wish I would have seen this before I went to Cali. The waves are so big when you get caught out there that it becomes a very scary experience.

Wow...never knew about rip currents. Thank you so much for posting.

This is the best video ever! Showing being in an actual rip from swimmers point of view. You did millions a great service! Thank you.

You cant escape it no matter how good swimmer you are and you dont know how rip currents work. Thanks to this informative video, it added into my list of "what to avoid in beaches"

Panic and fatigue from fighting RIP currents causes most drownings . Floating with it may take you further out but will not fatigue you. Wait for a land bound swell only to make incremental progress as a body surfer would catching a wave if you angularly ride waves you will get out of the RIP. You may end up at an adjoining beach from where you entered but no matter you have used the oceans strength to your favor . Dont try to fight her undertow by attempting to stand in a RIP. Stay surface planed and look for that swell 🌊to ride safely to shore Preventively, examine currents before entering for side sweeps ,undertows, and rips. 🙌🙏⛑🏊‍♂️🏊‍♀️🏄‍♀️🏄‍♂️🌬🧜‍♂️🧜‍♀️🏖🛑✅⚕ Rips occur most often because of the accretion of a sand bar that erodes breaks causing a fierce rushing undertow. You can try to spot them by wading first- you will feel the backwash strength . This may be more noticeable prior to low tide . So that's another thing you can check what is the days high and low tides. Lunar events effect tides . Be safe be aware hold your finger up in the air .

Thank you JK news for saving my life

Last year I was swimming further and further off shore just for fun. When I turned back, I realized that I've gone quite far out, so I started swimming back but I wasn't making any progress. In fact, the distance between the shore and I was increasing. At the time, I had no idea what rip currents were, so I started swimming even fast. It took me a good 10 minutes just to swim back and at the end, I was exhausted.

Thank You for watching and commenting Stefania, Rip Currents can have many different looks too them. The ones that are the most dangerous are like this one where you really can't see them, that is why you should always swim at a lifeguarded beach!

Finally - An actual demonstration! Nice - well done.

Thank you lieutenant Mark J. That was absolutely what RU-vid was meant for!!!!👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽

Possibly the best video on RC's I've seen. 40 years ago I used to swim off Whitesands Bay, West Wales with a friend, this beach is famed for surfing and is known to be dangerous; we used to 'dare' to swim out to the mast of an old wreck which only got exposed at very low tides. Once we found ourselves unable to get back to shore despite all efforts, some instinct told us to parallel the shore for a while, this took us very close to another danger in the form of an outcrop of rocks but somehow we made it back utterly exhausted! Another time I was on the same beach and I forgot to check the tide times, I was alone in a small cove beyond the rocks I mentioned earlier, the tide had come into the cove but not yet the main beach...I had to swim for it, around those rocks. So there are 2 incidents which I managed to survive but then I'd never heard of a rip then!

Good to hear that you are safe! Rip Currents are all different so please swim in a lifeguarded area! This video is really meant to show the basics to survive and a person will probably not remember in a time of panic!

I think they should add the word "parallel", "side by side to the beach", cuz it's too scary for me to say 'I'm gonna just let this current take me wherever" but I can relax a little and allow it to pull me alongside parallel to the beach until it releases me from clutches.

A group of kids from my church were on a mission trip in Costa Rica and when they were at the beach, two girls got caught in a rip current and had to be taken to the hospital. There was only one lifeguard, and the other kids there basically saved their lives (along with the help of the lifeguard) and from the story they told, it sounded traumatizing. Every one of them, the kids who saved them and the girls who got swept out in the first place, said that they thought they were gonna die. By some miracle of God though, they ended up safe and only stayed one night in the hospital. You never think these things will be that bad until you actually experience one for yourself, is what I've figured. However, some good came out of it as a couple of girls that they had ministered to decided that they wanted to learn more about Jesus after learning that everyone had survived, because they saw it as a miracle as well. Out of the 5 or 6 people caught in the current in total, all came back alive, and with little to no injury, which is amazing.

So sorry that I accidentally removed a post from a day ago, I was trying to respond and say thank you.

i'd only fear that the rip current would take me so far I wouldn't be able to swim back

This is the best one of these. Thank you.

this short old instruction is alot clearer and make senses than many if these days.

Back in my surfing/bodyboarding days we would use rip currents to get us out to the line-up. Kind of like using the people movers at the airport to get you to the terminals. A good one would get us out to the line-up with our hair still dry. It sure beat trying to fight your way through the shorebreak, then past the sandbar/impact area, to the first peak where the waves break.

thank you lifeguards!

That's one hella strong lifeguard there

So empressive and useful

these videos help a lot! greetings from a lifeguarding aspirant! :)

Best video I’ve seen. Should be shown at any beach

best video on rip tides. thank you

Great video. I didn't know about that! Thanks!

Although in the beginning he could've tried standing up. This is a very good demonstration.

Nice demonstration! Thank you!

When the tide is sending the sea in, the weight of water is huge.. It is pushing against land and cannot go over it, or around it. The heavy volume of water will channel back through deeper valleys in the sand wherever they may be on the shore. The water volume is so great, these rip channels have the power of swollen rivers or more. If you get into a rip in your own depth, you may be able to fight in by keeping you feet in the sand and pushing back in. The deeper you are, the harder it is. To survive a rip once you're out of depth, don't panic or try to swim against it. Swim with it and then swim out of the side. This may mean 100-200 meter swim through the surf, so be ready.

very good shown how this all is effecting people and how it works, very good, thanks for making this video! :)

Very important video! Thanks a lot!

this is the best video if seen on this topic thanks so mjch

I also read that you have to swim parallel of the current to get out before swimming to shore

Very good advice

I was caught in a rip current once and I thought I was gonna drown but luckily a lifeguard saved me and I was totally carful after that. But know I know how to spot a rip current and know what to do if I get caught in a rip current so thanks for uploading a video about rip currents

my friends died in rip current in a lake, so hopefully videos like this approach more viewers..

Without the red flags you couldn't really tell there was a rip there because the waves are everywhere . It is not obvious , not in this place .

You can go to the left or right to try to avoid the rip current too

I still can't spot it from shore

You are so welcome Genesiz sri lanka! Always wanted to travel to Sri Lanka, stay safe and enjoy the ocean!

It should be easy for viewers to identify the rip is travelling diagonally to the right. This leads to the sandbank within the surf break where waves are breaking and travelling back to the beach not “out to sea” as suggested. If the swimmer just floats he will end up on the shallow sandbank where the waves will push him back toward shore. He chose to swim across the beach left against the current going right, only a good swimmer can achieve this. So remain calm and float seaaustralia

Thank you so much!

well that was bloody terrifying

Thanks for info.

The best video!

Looks like I won’t be at the beach a lot. I will be at the pool.

I was in Sri Lanka catched in a rip current. I tried to swim back to the shore, but it was not possible and I was in panic. The lifeguards came to rescue me. I'm alife!!!!!

thanks for the tips ,,this is very usefull

Thank you!

Great video,

Well demo and explained

I never, never liked to swim in oceans and seas! Unwelcome element! Unwelcome and dangerous!!!

90% of the time, rips will actually circle back to a sandbar where you can then ride with the waves back to shore

name of the music??? thanks for the helpful video!!

They can be spotted like break of waves in middle... Little darker in colour..

with a good sea kayak, these can be real fun! just gotta know what to do if you fall in

love the music choice

the music is so good

Billy Warpinjur needs to get his music on Amazon. I couldn't add it to my playlist.

Ty important info

Really helpful 👌

They need to teach this in schools

🙏🏼🙏🏼👍🏼👍🏼👍🏼👍🏼👍🏼👍🏼👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼 thank you!!!

مشكورين على الماده العلميه المفيده

Thanks for ur brave job ...it's like anything , I can back up a trailer near anywhere but hey when it comes to blood,doctors medicine or swimming , I pass , no thanks.

Or you can just swim in a swimming pool instead of swimming in a large salty body of water with tides and sharks all kinds of danger.

Ive been in the ocean before when it was dragging us out and we were almost out to where my dad couldn't touch and i was trying to swim but it would drag us back and we did this and we made it all the way back but the waves were almost as big as me and they would like bring us back a yard it was annoying but we made it i was scared too also that was when they said a hurricane would come soon and people shouldn't be out in the water. I think the storm was either irma katrina or matthew it was this summer i know that. It was windy under the water too. it was like making me trip and my grandma was there too, my dad had to carry her and take my hand because she weighs about 100 pounds

Thank you

How would you rank the strength of that rip?

thank you

Never realized I’ve been caught in small ones as a kid but nothing dangerous enough to cause panic, haven’t swam in the ocean in two years though

Teşekküler.

Very good video

good to see an example swimmer!

True now I'm scared to go to the beach now

I am ftom Indonesia. This vlog is attractive when there is model is taken by rip current

Wow thanks a lot

it happens on the Great Lakes (Canada & USA) too, not just the ocean.

Thanks. . From indonesia

Omg... thanks!

Am I the only one who don't see any signs of the rip current ? It looks completely same for me

Спасибо за наглядную демонстрацию как нужно вести себя при попадании в рип

It happened to me i was unaware what I got myself into and was trying to swim back against the current due to panic lucky i grabbed onto something and pulled myself back to the shore. No i know these things exist.

Dang that's scary 😣😯

I still dont get it.....I cant see or spot it

it looked beautiful out, I don't know why there could be a rip current out there?

nice video 😍

The life guard wasn't even trying to swim. His arms and hands were so limp and his knees were out in front of him.

Question how far can it take u out to the sea if u just stay afloat?

But it looks like the lifeguard could make it if he wanted , meaning he swam not at full speed

Use a wetsuit when swimming open water.It can save you from currents and cramps

Teşekkürler. çok önemli bir konuya değindi niz.insanlar denizleri pek degil hiç tanimiyorlar.bu yuzden o kötü sonuclar meydana geliyor.

Cant you tell by the color of the water. Like if its pulling then the water gets really brown from the sand. Thats what I usually see in Cali...shit is strong but ive never been at risk.

Please name of music

does rip currents always happen in the same place in the beach since they are connected with sand bars as i understand.