What to do if you find yourself in a Rip Current
Posted On Thursday, July 4, 2013
Our thoughts and prayers go out to the families that lost loved ones at both beaches on the 3rd.
The ocean is a beautiful thing that draws all of us to relax, but it is powerful. Rip currents can be common on our shores after storms pass. Be safe-make sure everyone in the family going in the water knows to swim parallel to the beach until they get out of the pull of a rip current.
These currents are created in part by gaps in sandbars along the coast. The strongest pull is from water rushing from the shore back to the ocean between these sandbars. So by swimming parallel to the shore, you'll reach the next sandbar and get away from the rip current itself. Then you can head for the shore.
The ocean is a beautiful thing that draws all of us to relax, but it is powerful. Rip currents can be common on our shores after storms pass. Be safe-make sure everyone in the family going in the water knows to swim parallel to the beach until they get out of the pull of a rip current.
These currents are created in part by gaps in sandbars along the coast. The strongest pull is from water rushing from the shore back to the ocean between these sandbars. So by swimming parallel to the shore, you'll reach the next sandbar and get away from the rip current itself. Then you can head for the shore.