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Comment by ggm | Hacker News Reader

A common tragedy in Australia is recent migrants, going to the beach, not understanding "the rip" and drowning.

These migrants can come from anywhere. Africa, Asia, Europe. The commonality is that they have at best, 25m or 50m swimming proficiency. They have never swam in open water, experienced tidal pull, waves, uneven rocky shorelines.

At various times, there have been campaigns to get them trained up. Its a short, sad life to emigrate, hit the beach and die.

(a second common fatality is rock fishing without an anchor or a life vest but thats Off Topic)

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Sadly it happens with tourists in the Portuguese coast as well, which never got to swim with the Atlantic waves or sudden change of underwater currents.

The waters surrounding Europe are varied; in from England so I was taught about rip tides and strong currents, but someone from near the Baltic or Mediterranean Sea might simply not know.

I once had an Danish teenager tell me "tides are an old viking thing". We were on a beach with a 6cm tide, I'm more used to several metres.

As an Italian, having spent all my life up to that point bathing in the tame and shallow coasts of the Mediterraneum, I remember vividly when pluging the first time in the Atlantic in Figueira da Foz :)

Even in a tourist beach, the strength and sudden depth of the ocean was so different from what I was used to.

I remember being impressed by how strong the wave were and also how cold the water was, compared to the air temperature.

I'm used to the Atlantic but I had one of my scariest moments on an Algarve beach and I've since heard others say the same.

Also in California.

Two common scenarios:

People get knocked of cliffs.

People walk on beach, get too close to the water or wade in a little too far.

People underestimate the powers within oceanic beach waters, particularly how powerless you are if you are caught within a rip (As far as I remember: do nothing, try not to drown, eventually the rip will "leave you be"). It comes down to where they live; either because of geography or of cultural issues keeping people from gaining much swimming experience.

If you live on the Cimbrian Peninsula e.g. you're in a position to experience how vastly different open waters can be (calmer baltic sea or the stronger north sea shores are never more than 1h away). But most of the time, people only have one option of open waters.

Anyway, here is a video by the surf rescue Australia explaining how to spot rips https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PuAlDTC_gIQ

I was born in a landlocked country with plenty of lakes, and was taught to swim simply by jumping into a deep river. I've learned how to deal with otherwise deadly whirpools by letting them drag you to the bottom then swimming along the stream. I knew how to efficiently swim against a fast stream if needed. I knew how to navigate the muddy water. I've crossed a spring flood once when I was young and stupid.

I was sure that seas with their salt waters are no problem. Boy was I naive; in my first real sea swim I nearly died to a current dragging me a couple miles into the sea through a flock of jellyfish.

> how to efficiently swim against a fast stream

How does that differ from just swimming fast?

Not OP, but the current is slower in eddies and at the very bottom. If you actually need to get upstream rather than just have fun playing, you can just walk on the bank. ISTM the only absolutely necessary technique for fast streams is the ferry. Speed is definitely helpful for that, although it isn't entirely "swimming against".

Sorry, what does "ISTM" and "the ferry" mean here?

Ferrying is crossing a river, by propelling oneself (either swimming or in a boat) diagonally across and against the main current. In e.g. a canoe it's easy to do so without being pushed downstream at all, while when swimming you will lose some ground. The skill is knowing the best angle to take.

"ISTM" is "it seems to me", in any online discussion. b^)

Plain rivers in the place I originally from are usually either deep or fast, so to go through a rapid you can dive to the bottom where the stream is slower, then swim some time underwater, usually at some angle. A series of dives was much more efficient compared to surface swimming.

The thing about rip currents, all you have to swim are those 25m or 50m sideways and the waves will wash you back to the beach.

Sometimes it seems that all the warnings and caution about rips actually make them worse. Most rips will eventually move you sideways, so relaxing and going with the flow is a fine response. Even those that just move you away from shore are easily handled as you observe. Yet lots of capable swimmers have been surprised by a rip, remembered all the dire warnings, and panicked.

Also seems to be happening in the UK:

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/camber-sands...

This is very visible on TV shows like Bondi Rescue. I'd wager 80% of the people they save are either on holiday from Asia or recently migrated from there.

Often the rescued people will comment afterwards that they didn't have any swimming experience prior to coming to Australia, let alone experience in strong rips.

In Spain people used to the Mediterranean sea often get down a beach in the North, tides come and they can not get out as they did not planned for it.

What happens is that in the Mediterranean Sea tides are very small.

As a diver I have experience getting into bigger than 10kms/hr currents and thinking for myself: Wow if I had not the Cylinders I would probably instantly experience panic here.

What is the problem exactly with this "rip"? I often go swimming in the ocean although not in Australia.

Search for something like "dangers of rip tide" and do some reading as it may well save your life one day.

Thank you. I will read up on it.

Rip is where there is a current taking you out and people try to swim in against it, get exhausted and drown. The solution is to swim parallel to the shore until you get to beyond the rip

> The solution is to swim parallel to the shore until you get to beyond the rip

But how do you know when are out of the rip, so you'd know when to stop swimming parallel?

I've never been in that situation. I think I seen recommendations where you should swim diagonally toward the shore rather than parallel, maybe that's the logic there. The thing is that there is an current toward the shore on either side of a rip, maybe you can sense the change in pull? Rips only go out so far before the water recirculates back to shore.

When you're swimming parallel and not moving further away from the beach, you're no longer being ripped away from the beach.

If you're already 100 meters out, and there are some waves, are you really able to tell whether you're moving away from the shore or not?

The pull is pretty strong, and you can feel it pulling you out. When it's not pulling at you any more you can feel it. You can be quite a long way offshore before you're out of it.

You can't feel or see it much when you're just floating in the water. It's like the phenomenon of a complete lack of wind while riding in a hot air balloon: You're immersed in the fluid which is moving, so you feel no relative motion.

You can feel it easily if you can touch or swim down to the bottom. Also, it's often possible to see where the sand bars and reefs that are next to the rip are located either by seeing the color of the ocean floor or by seeing the waves breaking; get behind those and you'll be out of the rip.

Usually rips are only 10m wide. At special locations in the middle of a sandy beach, you can calculate, if you know the trick and angles.

As surfer we call them lift. They take you out for free, and then it's easy to step out, just as on a lift. But to a swimmer who has no idea they are usually deadly.

You can focus on some constant points, like the surf or some rocks, but usually it's easy to step out, and you feel it immediately.

This is fairly good [0]. Note that knowing the "swim parallel to the shore" advice is solid, but that doesn't stop it being seriously scary if you get caught. You still need to be a good swimmer and you can still panic.

I usually have a quick chat with a lifeguard if there is one, and/or check out what flag system they are using (usually pretty obvious like red/green but it can be different depending where you are). Research a beach on the internet for a few minutes before you go.

http://thevane.gawker.com/learn-how-to-identify-rip-currents...

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