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Less than a year ago me and a few friends of mine were about to drown and I had accepted it before I got out. A few of my friends were at shore, I was able to

by sev 16y ago

Less than a year ago me and a few friends of mine were about to drown and I had accepted it before I got out. A few of my friends were at shore, I was able to wave and yell for a bit, because I had realized I was going to drown before I actually did start to (there was a rip current and so it was pulling my friends and I backward very quickly). From my perspective, it was amazing to me that: 1) I was Yelling and screaming, and my friends at shore continued to stare toward me like everything was completely normal. 2) I was not thinking clearly that the noise from the ocean and waves would not allow my friends at shore to hear me. 3) I was stupid enough at that moment to waste energy by waving and yelling rather than trying to stay afloat. 4) Knowing how to swim well in a pool had little to do with knowing how to swim well in the ocean. 5) During the panic, I did not try to lay on my back on the water, knowing salt water keeps you afloat without much movement necessary 6) Having friends with you is no benefit at all during such a situation. In fact, it's usually a bad thing, because everyone is fighting for their lives, and no one cares what they need to push down to pull themselves up. Admittedly, we had had a few drinks and lots of food before we went in. Luckily we all survived, but we had all accepted the worst possible outcome. I was able to get out without a lifeguard, but needed to go call one for 2 of my friends who were in worse conditions than I was. If you ever get stuck in a rip current, swim diagonally toward shore.

krolley 16y ago
And importantly, learn to recognise a rip so that you never get in one. As I remember as a kid growing up in Australia, you can tell a rip when you can see the curl and break of a wave on either side of a part of a wave, but not in the middle. This is caused by the water that is flowing from the beach back out to sea. Also, if you get tired don't fight the rip because you will risk drowning. Float on your back and wait for help.
- demallien 16y ago
  Also, rips have a sandy colour to them, as they are carrying out all the churned up water back out into the stiller deep water. If you are on a patrolled beach, and you find yourself in a rip, the easiest thing to do is just roll on to your back and wait for help to arrive - maybe waving a hand in the air occassionally. You certainly don't need to worry about getting swept out to sea, never to be seen again - lifesavers check rips roughly about once every 15 seconds or so (and no, I'm not exagerating - they know where the rips are, and they know that these are a big source of danger). If you are an ok swimmer you might try swimming parralel to the beach to get out of the rip before turning into the beach again. If you're a strong swimmer you can probably swim back diagonally, although if you're a strong enough swimmer for this you probably never thought of yourself as being in trouble anyway, so you probably don't need the advice.
  - sev 16y ago
    > lifesavers check rips roughly about once every 15 seconds or so > (and no, I'm not exagerating - they know where the rips are, and they know that these are a big source of danger) Where I was at, they didn't even see us drowning for approximately 5 minutes. Where one of our group members had to go tell the lifeguard that people were drowning for them to notice. It was 5:30 in the evening, so maybe that was part of the problem, I'm not sure.
- btilly 16y ago
  And importantly, learn to recognise a rip so that you never get in one. Surfers like to recognize where the rips are so that they can get back out more quickly for the next good wave. :-)
Tichy 16y ago
Out of curiosity, how does a rip current make you drown? I've read about it, but could never really imagine it. Does it drag you down? Or is it just exhaustion from trying too hard to get back to shore? I've read about the cases were people were "lost" in the ocean (the current brought them far away from the shore), but what are the odds if yo keep your calm? I am used to swimming in rivers.
- sliverstorm 16y ago
  > exhaustion from trying too hard to get back to shore? Bingo. Rip current drags you out to sea, and the immediate reaction is swim towards the shore. The rip current is stronger than you are, so you exhaust yourself and drown. If you swim diagonally towards the shore (well, I was taught to swim parallel towards shore until out of rip current) you will eventually be able to reach shore. Reminds me of people running away from a tall falling object like a tree. You won't get away running away from it, only by running out of it's path.
- sev 16y ago
  Panic is what causes drowning, not the rip current per se. The rip current causes the panic though. I can only tell you how it felt for me. The rip current pulls you backward, not downward. And the fight against the backward pull power of the ocean directly gets you very tired, and being very tired causes you to not be able to push yourself up too far, causing big waves to hit you in the face, wherein you start swallowing water and get even more tired. I was swimming away from shore for a while, diving through waves. At one point I checked for sand under my feet and didn't feel any, but kept swimming because the group I was with still was. I got a little tired, and decided to say screw it to my group and I turned around. As I tried to swim back toward shore, the distance from where I was to where the shore was seemed to double. The more I swam toward shore the farther away I was getting. I had a lot to drink and eat in my body, so my muscles weren't functioning perfectly or smoothly anyway. When you witness the distance increasing so drastically, you panic, and you start doing illogical things. Getting on my back did not cross my mind for a millisecond. It feels like no matter how hard you try you'll just get pulled in further, and that's scary (but not true).

by sev 16y ago

krolley 16y ago

And importantly, learn to recognise a rip so that you never get in one. As I remember as a kid growing up in Australia, you can tell a rip when you can see the curl and break of a wave on either side of a part of a wave, but not in the middle. This is caused by the water that is flowing from the beach back out to sea. Also, if you get tired don't fight the rip because you will risk drowning. Float on your back and wait for help.

demallien 16y ago
Also, rips have a sandy colour to them, as they are carrying out all the churned up water back out into the stiller deep water. If you are on a patrolled beach, and you find yourself in a rip, the easiest thing to do is just roll on to your back and wait for help to arrive - maybe waving a hand in the air occassionally. You certainly don't need to worry about getting swept out to sea, never to be seen again - lifesavers check rips roughly about once every 15 seconds or so (and no, I'm not exagerating - they know where the rips are, and they know that these are a big source of danger). If you are an ok swimmer you might try swimming parralel to the beach to get out of the rip before turning into the beach again. If you're a strong swimmer you can probably swim back diagonally, although if you're a strong enough swimmer for this you probably never thought of yourself as being in trouble anyway, so you probably don't need the advice.
- sev 16y ago
  > lifesavers check rips roughly about once every 15 seconds or so > (and no, I'm not exagerating - they know where the rips are, and they know that these are a big source of danger) Where I was at, they didn't even see us drowning for approximately 5 minutes. Where one of our group members had to go tell the lifeguard that people were drowning for them to notice. It was 5:30 in the evening, so maybe that was part of the problem, I'm not sure.
btilly 16y ago
And importantly, learn to recognise a rip so that you never get in one. Surfers like to recognize where the rips are so that they can get back out more quickly for the next good wave. :-)

Tichy 16y ago

Out of curiosity, how does a rip current make you drown? I've read about it, but could never really imagine it. Does it drag you down? Or is it just exhaustion from trying too hard to get back to shore? I've read about the cases were people were "lost" in the ocean (the current brought them far away from the shore), but what are the odds if yo keep your calm? I am used to swimming in rivers.

sliverstorm 16y ago
> exhaustion from trying too hard to get back to shore? Bingo. Rip current drags you out to sea, and the immediate reaction is swim towards the shore. The rip current is stronger than you are, so you exhaust yourself and drown. If you swim diagonally towards the shore (well, I was taught to swim parallel towards shore until out of rip current) you will eventually be able to reach shore. Reminds me of people running away from a tall falling object like a tree. You won't get away running away from it, only by running out of it's path.
sev 16y ago
Panic is what causes drowning, not the rip current per se. The rip current causes the panic though. I can only tell you how it felt for me. The rip current pulls you backward, not downward. And the fight against the backward pull power of the ocean directly gets you very tired, and being very tired causes you to not be able to push yourself up too far, causing big waves to hit you in the face, wherein you start swallowing water and get even more tired. I was swimming away from shore for a while, diving through waves. At one point I checked for sand under my feet and didn't feel any, but kept swimming because the group I was with still was. I got a little tired, and decided to say screw it to my group and I turned around. As I tried to swim back toward shore, the distance from where I was to where the shore was seemed to double. The more I swam toward shore the farther away I was getting. I had a lot to drink and eat in my body, so my muscles weren't functioning perfectly or smoothly anyway. When you witness the distance increasing so drastically, you panic, and you start doing illogical things. Getting on my back did not cross my mind for a millisecond. It feels like no matter how hard you try you'll just get pulled in further, and that's scary (but not true).