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Breaking the Grip of Rip Currents
Swim to the side! That’s the message for beachgoers across the country during National Rip Current Awareness Week (June 1 – June 7).
Rip currents occur when waves and water pile up near the beach and suddenly seek a way back out to sea, forming rough plumes and taking swimmers for a scary ride. If swimmers panic and try to struggle back toward shore against the current, they may become fatigued and overwhelmed.
Swimming against the current is a bad idea. Rip currents can travel up to eight feet per second, faster than even Olympic champions can swim. Even strong swimmers should swim to the side to get out of the current.
Rip current warning signs, designed by the U.S. Lifesaving Association and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), make this point with a striking graphic and arrows showing where to swim. In Ocean City and Assateague, Maryland, the University of Maryland Sea Grant College has worked with local officials to display metal signs with this message. A total of 130 metal signs, 115 at Ocean City and 15 at Assateague, show swimmers how to escape the dangerous grip of rip currents.
As part of the nationwide Break The Grip of The Rip!® public information campaign, NOAA and its partners have now developed a bilingual sign that warns swimmers in both English and Spanish, using the same striking graphic. The signs, along with other valuable information, are available on the web at: http://www.ripcurrents.noaa.gov
Every year scientists are learning more about how rip currents form. Working with funds from Maryland Sea Grant, researcher Tony Dalrymple has modeled the various ways in which rip currents take shape. Dalrymple, a civil engineer at the Johns Hopkins University, mounted a camera on the Stowaway Grand Hotel in Ocean City so he can observe rip currents as they happen. He and graduate student Varjola Nelko have watched these currents form all winter long. Images from this stretch of Ocean City shoreline are updated hourly and mounted online at: http://www.ce.jhu.edu/oceancity/
Dalrymple’s goal is to provide a practical tool that will help lifeguards and others better predict when rip currents are likely to strike.
-Jack Greer
Contacts at Maryland Sea Grant:
Jack Greer 240-393-1806
Erica Goldman 301-405-7500
When at the beach:
- Whenever possible,
swim at a lifeguard-protected beach.
- Never swim alone.
- Learn how to swim in the surf. It's not the same as swimming in a pool or lake.
- Be cautious at all times, especially when swimming at unguarded beaches. If in doubt, don’t go out.
- Obey all instructions and orders from lifeguards.
- Stay at least 100 feet away from piers and jetties. Permanent rip currents often exist along side these structures.
- Pay especially close attention to children and elderly when at the
beach. Even in shallow water, wave action can cause loss of footing.
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If caught in a rip current:
- Remain calm to conserve energy and think clearly.
- Never fight against the current.
- Think of it like a treadmill that cannot be turned off, which you need to step to the side of.
- Swim out of the current in a direction following the shoreline.
When out of the current, swim at an angle--away from the
current--towards shore.
- If you are unable to swim out of the rip current, float or calmly tread water. When out of the current, swim towards shore.
- If you are still unable to reach shore, draw attention to yourself by waving your arm and yelling for help.
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If you see someone in trouble, don't become a victim too:
- 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--a lifejacket, a cooler, an inflatable ball.
- Yell instructions on how to escape.
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Many people drown while trying to save someone else from a rip current.
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