Rip tides: a cautionary tale
June 8th, 2007 by 
Morgan J. Locke
While we are on the subject of public health issues, odd time signatures has a heartbreaking post up today by a woman who lost her husband last year to a rip current at a Florida beach:
By the time I got to the beach Larry was dead. Floating face down in the waves. It took 20 agonizing minutes and the life of another before Larry’s body was rescued. Yes, another father, Ken Brindley, also lost his life to the rip current trying to help Larry. He left behind a loving wife and two small children. Somehow that is the hardest thing for me to face.
Here’s the catch: this wasn’t a freak accident. Six more people died that day in the rip currents along the Florida panhandle. Most of them drowned before Larry, the kids, and I set foot on the beach that day.
A trip to an ocean or beach is one of my very favorite vacations. But rip currents are no joke. odd time has some excellent tips on what to do if you get caught in a rip current. Other things you can do: check the local papers; they often provide warnings about dates and locations of unsafe swimming conditions. The safest course is to swim only at beaches with life guards, especially if you have young children with you.
Posted in Health and Safety, Morgan | 
1 Comment »
June 8th, 2007 at 1:36 pm
Riptides are caused by localized currents. Waves wash up onto a beach and then, usually because of some submerged topography, there is a place where the water drains back out at a much greater rate.
When you look at a beach with a rip tide, there’s often a place where the waves are not breaking to the same extent they are elsewhere. This can show you where the rip is.
If caught in a rip, the most important thing you can do is swim parallel to the beach. This gets you out of the rip without fighting the current.
As a diver, I routinely used rip tides to travel out to our offshore dive sites, but we certainly avoided them coming back in.