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Surviving Rip Currents – A Silent Killer

By admin on Mar 27, 2011 with Comments 2

Avoid an Avoidable Costa Rica Catastrophe

Rip Tides, also commonly known as rip currents or undertows apparently cause more tourist deaths in Costa Rica than all other causes according to Adventure-Inn.com – with supporting statistics that 90% of Costa Rica’s 150 to 200 yearly drowning deaths occur at 5% of Costa Rica’s beaches with 80% related to rip currents.

Rip Currents are narrow bands of water that literally pull any objects located within them away from shore and out to sea. They occur in any ocean and lakes where breaking waves exist. At the “head” of the Rip Current, just beyond the breakers, the force of the current decreases significantly.

Rip Currents are Not All the Same

There are different kinds of Rip Currents –

Fixed Rip Currents – common to long sandy beaches and may move up or down the beach depending on shifts in the ocean floor but generally stable, remaining in one place for hours, even whole days.

Flash, or Temporary, Rip Currents – happening during sudden wave build-ups, resulting from distant storms.

Traveling Rip Currents – these move along the beachfront and can move up to 30 yards in a single minute, occuring on long sandy beaches that have no fixed depressions on the floor of the ocean.

Surviving a Rip Current

Some practical advice to surviving a Rip Current -

Don’t Get in One – So long as you can keep your feet on the ocean floor you can prevent the effects of a Rip Current, especially for those that don’t know how to swim.

Recognize Conditions that Create a Rip Current – A Rip Current may look like a muddy stream, without breaking waves and with foam surrounded by breakers. River mouths make ideal Rip Currents.

Remain Calm – Your first reaction can be to panic. Understand that while the Rip Current will pull you away from the shore it will not pull you under.

Regain Footing – The best way to prevent being dragged out is to stabilize your position.

Don’t Struggle – It’s a mental not physical solution, as many Rip Current victims have drownd because they became exhausted from fighting the current.

Call for Help – Get the attention of beachgoers, lifeguards or surfers by waving your arms and yelling for help. Often with strong waves, there will be surfers around, using the Rip Current to get back to sea. If you can catch their attention and a surf board is a very reassuring thing to hold on to.

Swim Parallel to the Shore – Because a rip current is a linear phenomenon, if you swim across it you should encounter fresh water. Rip Currents are rarely over 100 feet wide. Understand that you will be carried further from the shore until you’re clear of the Rip Current, but once out of the grasp of the current you will have more options.

Float and Conserve Energy – Once out of the Rip Current or if all else fails, float on your back or tread water to conserve energy. Many Rip Currents lose their grip 50 – 100 yards from shore, so you’ll eventually have a chance to swim back in so you can’t be exhausted.

Swim Back Diagonally – To avoid encountering the Rip Current again, swim diagonally back to shore, stopping and resting by floating or treading water from time to time to rest.

Never try and fight the current. The secret is to relax, float, gently kick from the hips, and conserve your energy, you’ll be out in a few minutes, and sorry for the inconvenience!

Watch this one minute video which is worth remembering.

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