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 Wright

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.