How to handle rip tides: Even small rips can move faster than Olympic swimmers

Despite the energy they contain, rips actually look temptingly calm. They are not.

How to handle rip tides (AFP/Getty)

"Every year, in the UK, around 400 people die from drowning as a result of an accident in or around water," says the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents. A number of these are bathers who get caught in rip currents, which can turn a dip in the sea into a battle for survival. One of the top international campaigners is Dr Rob Brander of the University of New South Wales in Australia. He has produced an excellent safety guide that you can read here: bit.ly/RipSafe.

It explains that rips are strong, narrow currents of seawater flowing from the beach out to sea after waves have broken. "The bigger the waves, the stronger the rip," says Dr Brander. "Think of them as rivers of the sea. Even small rips can move faster than Olympic swimmers and can carry you more than 50 metres out in less than a minute."

The best way to avoid rips is not to be caught in one. Despite the energy they contain, rips actually look temptingly calm. They are not.

Dr Brander advises you to spend five or 10 minutes looking at the surf to identify consistently darker and calmer areas that extend offshore between the breaking waves. "Rips also carry things, so look for moving sand, seaweed, foam and people," he says

In the unfortunate event that you are caught in one, never try to swim against the rip, because you will rapidly become exhausted. In line with RNLI advice, you should adopt a strategy that is either passive or proactive:

"A passive strategy requires the swimmer to either float or tread water and wait for a rescue or for the rip to return them to the beach (in the case of a re-circulating rip current). A proactive strategy requires swimming or paddling out of the rip current to a region of safety, e.g. across the rip flow to a shallower sandbar."

Dr Brander's final word: "Rips are only dangerous if you don't understand what they are and you are not a good swimmer."