Rip Current

I got caught in one when I was a kid.

They don’t take you out very far, but they push you away faster than you can swim, and it’s the struggle that gets you.

I hadn’t been told about them so I didn’t know what was happening, or that I just needed to move sideways. It isn’t obvious that you’re in a channel of water, and you just kind of notice that everyone is suddenly getting quite far away.

It got kind of scary and I tried to swim against it but it wasn’t working. I saw that I was drifting towards some small fishing boats so decided to swim with the current instead.

Problem is, scale is an illusion. By the time it stopped, the boats were still in the distance, but so was the beach. That’s when I got scared.

I don’t know for sure, I was young, but I think it was around 100 meters out. I swam back (it felt like it took a long time, but that’s probably because it was so cold - the UK isn’t famed for its seasides!)

But when I got back I ended up a fair walk away from where my family were lounging around, mum reading a book, dad making a very bad attempt at using a disposable barbecue. I told them what happened and they didn’t believe me.

As surfer we call them lift. You step into them, it takjes you out for free, and then you step out.

For swimmers it usually doesn't end well