Many people think that the sea presents the most danger at high tide but even the most avid checker of tide times is not immune to the threats posed by rip tides.
Each year in Britain around 400 people drown in Britain because of accidents around or in water, according to statistics from the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents, and a number of these are people who are caught in rip tides.
One of the top rip current experts in the world is the University of New South Wales’ Dr Rob Brander, who has produced his own guide on rip current survival (bit.ly/RipSafe).
The guide explains that these rips are narrow, strong currents of water which flow out to sea from the beach after the breaking of the waves. Larger waves cause stronger rips but Dr Brander points out that even small rips can travel at a greater speed than Olympic swimmers. A person could be carried over 50 metres out to sea in less than 60 seconds.
One of the major dangers of rip currents is that the area can look surprisingly calm. Yet rips can contain vast amounts of energy which can have tragic effects.
Dr Brander says that people looking to enter the water need to spend between five and 10 minutes assessing the surf, looking for consistently calmer and darker areas that head out to sea between breaking waves. Rips also carry objects, so people should keep an eye out for moving foam, seaweed or sand, he explains.
Anyone caught in a rip should not attempt to swim against it. The RNLI advice is to adopt either a passive or proactive approach. This means that swimmers should either tread water or float as they wait to be rescued or for current to take them back to the beach, or swim across the rip to an area of safety.
