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I witnessed once a guy drowning in the sea. There were signs all over the beach that it was very dangerous to swim there at that time of the year. The sea was a

I witnessed once a guy drowning in the sea. There were signs all over the beach that it was very dangerous to swim there at that time of the year. The sea was a bit rough but the waves weren't that impressive. Nonetheless, a guy went for a dip although not very far in the sea, maybe waist-level. Eventually, he realized he wasn't able to go back to the beach, got carried by the current and called for help. Fortunately, he was rescued by a surfer. I certainly wouldn't have gone in the sea considering all the warnings, but at the same time, I didn't really think the guy was in danger while being so close to the beach. I think it was a good lesson.

tetha 8y ago
A friend of mine is an experienced sailor and kayak driver. As he put it: A bad current moves several tons of water per minute. That small wave has more weight than you do, even on a small space. Doesn't matter if you're 300 pound muscle or 400 pound fat, you go where the current goes.
- yesenadam 8y ago
  Surely what matters is whether you can swim faster than the current, not the weight or otherwise of anything.
  - abraae 8y ago
    Not just faster, but significantly faster. If the current is 3 mph, and you can swim at 4 mph, then you will be swimming for a very long time at the effective 1 mph to get back to shore. And if on the way you need to stop for even a minute's rest, you'll lose 4 minutes worth of your hard-won progress.
js2 8y ago
That sounds like a rip current. A rip current moves out to sea faster than you can swim, but they typically aren’t very wide. The key is to swim parallel to the shore till you’re out of the current, then you can swim in. It can be scary though and obviously panicking is about the worst thing you can do. People will often try to swim against the current till they tire and then they unfortunately may drown. You can sometimes identify a rip current from the beach as a stream of bubbles/whitewash moving out to sea by they are often hard to spot.
- bradknowles 8y ago
  I've always heard them called "rip tides", not "rip currents". But whatever you call them, I got caught by one many years ago, when I was a kid. It was Wrightsville Beach, near Wilmington NC. My friend and I were swimming near the pier. It was all fun and games, for what seemed like a short time. We kept checking, and the pier never moved. Until one time we checked, and the pier was gone. Well, really we were gone and we didn't realize it. We were so far out into the ocean that we could barely see the end of the pier, much less the beach. I don't know how far out we were, but research indicates the pier is currently 1200 feet long. Ask yourself how far out you would have to be and not be able to see the pier from that far out. Fortunately, I had been well-taught in school, and knew that we had to swim perpendicular (well, more diagonal) to the tide. We couldn't fight the tide and try to swim directly to shore, otherwise we would tire out and never make it. That part had been drilled into my head quite well by the school system of Wilmington, NC. So, we started swimming perpendicular to the tide. I also know that we couldn't swim south, since that's the direction the pier was in, and we didn't want to risk running into the pier. So, we swam north. For what seemed like miles. We managed to keep the beach in view, barely. When we did finally make land, it was way the bleeping heck to the north. We definitely couldn't see the pier from there. So, we started our long trek to the south, walking through the wet sand, because we didn't have shoes. I don't know how long it actually took to get back to where our parents were, but it sure seemed like hours and hours. When we finally got there, they had never noticed that we had drifted out too far, or that we were gone at all. Things could have turned out very differently, if not for the school system of Wilmington, NC.
  - js2 8y ago
    Funny, I grew up in Miami but currently live in Raleigh and have been to the NC beaches many times. I'm pretty sure I always knew them as rip currents. But now I wonder if I learned them as tides and started calling them currents at somepoint. Tides is definitely a misnomer: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rip_current https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rip_current I've been caught in one before too but nothing so dramatic!
- nradov 8y ago
  It seems the standard recommendation to swim parallel to the shore may be wrong. https://www.outsideonline.com/2089696/everything-you-know-about-surviving-rip-currents-wrong https://www.outsideonline.com/2089696/everything-you-know-ab...

tetha 8y ago

A friend of mine is an experienced sailor and kayak driver. As he put it: A bad current moves several tons of water per minute. That small wave has more weight than you do, even on a small space. Doesn't matter if you're 300 pound muscle or 400 pound fat, you go where the current goes.

yesenadam 8y ago
Surely what matters is whether you can swim faster than the current, not the weight or otherwise of anything.
- abraae 8y ago
  Not just faster, but significantly faster. If the current is 3 mph, and you can swim at 4 mph, then you will be swimming for a very long time at the effective 1 mph to get back to shore. And if on the way you need to stop for even a minute's rest, you'll lose 4 minutes worth of your hard-won progress.

js2 8y ago

That sounds like a rip current. A rip current moves out to sea faster than you can swim, but they typically aren’t very wide. The key is to swim parallel to the shore till you’re out of the current, then you can swim in. It can be scary though and obviously panicking is about the worst thing you can do. People will often try to swim against the current till they tire and then they unfortunately may drown. You can sometimes identify a rip current from the beach as a stream of bubbles/whitewash moving out to sea by they are often hard to spot.

bradknowles 8y ago
I've always heard them called "rip tides", not "rip currents". But whatever you call them, I got caught by one many years ago, when I was a kid. It was Wrightsville Beach, near Wilmington NC. My friend and I were swimming near the pier. It was all fun and games, for what seemed like a short time. We kept checking, and the pier never moved. Until one time we checked, and the pier was gone. Well, really we were gone and we didn't realize it. We were so far out into the ocean that we could barely see the end of the pier, much less the beach. I don't know how far out we were, but research indicates the pier is currently 1200 feet long. Ask yourself how far out you would have to be and not be able to see the pier from that far out. Fortunately, I had been well-taught in school, and knew that we had to swim perpendicular (well, more diagonal) to the tide. We couldn't fight the tide and try to swim directly to shore, otherwise we would tire out and never make it. That part had been drilled into my head quite well by the school system of Wilmington, NC. So, we started swimming perpendicular to the tide. I also know that we couldn't swim south, since that's the direction the pier was in, and we didn't want to risk running into the pier. So, we swam north. For what seemed like miles. We managed to keep the beach in view, barely. When we did finally make land, it was way the bleeping heck to the north. We definitely couldn't see the pier from there. So, we started our long trek to the south, walking through the wet sand, because we didn't have shoes. I don't know how long it actually took to get back to where our parents were, but it sure seemed like hours and hours. When we finally got there, they had never noticed that we had drifted out too far, or that we were gone at all. Things could have turned out very differently, if not for the school system of Wilmington, NC.
- js2 8y ago
  Funny, I grew up in Miami but currently live in Raleigh and have been to the NC beaches many times. I'm pretty sure I always knew them as rip currents. But now I wonder if I learned them as tides and started calling them currents at somepoint. Tides is definitely a misnomer: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rip_current https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rip_current I've been caught in one before too but nothing so dramatic!
nradov 8y ago
It seems the standard recommendation to swim parallel to the shore may be wrong. https://www.outsideonline.com/2089696/everything-you-know-about-surviving-rip-currents-wrong https://www.outsideonline.com/2089696/everything-you-know-ab...