Riptides?

[starkind]

USING SURFBOARD, TEENAGE GIRL SAVES THREE MEN FROM CERTAIN DEATH IN WILD JERSEY SHORE RESCUE! “THEY WERE SIPPING WATER, THEY COULDN’T CATCH THEIR BREATH!”


https://beachgrit.com/2021/10/using-surfboard-teenage-girl-saves-three-men-from-certain-death-in-wild-jersey-shore-rescue-they-were-sipping-water-they-couldnt-catch-their-breath/

So like in the military I learned survival bobbing. So like you can be completely relaxed and bobbing in the water breathing when the swells push your nose above the waves.

Will this not work with riptides for some reason? Or is it just 100% people panic and drown themselves?

I like understand open water survival, but not this riptide thing.

I understand swimming against the current towards the shore is always a really bad idea.

[BlackBellamy]

You get tired out. Bobbing will do nothing except get you swept out further, so you have to swim. And while you're swimming perpendicular you still get swept out, lengthening your return trip. You already used some energy to do whatever activity you were doing before the rip got you, then you use a lot of energy escaping the current, and now you're looking at a hundred, two maybe three hundred yard swim, and it's all waves crashing on you and more weird currents.

[GinnasP99]

Idk bout you guys, but the ocean absolutely terrifies me. Surfing does look dope af tho, I'd love to give it a try some day.

[Jimjam]

Riptides super handy when surfing to use as a conveyor belt to get out behind the breakers easily. Terrifying if you get caught in one without realising or knowing what to do. Especially if you are without a buoyancy aid.

As above, don’t swim against it, instead swim across out of it. There may well be another currant pumping water to the beach to facilitate your return.

Riptides can be spotted as the water appears flatter or stretched compared to surrounding water.

I hope the above info is remembered right - i’ve not been in the Atlantic for over a decade. The Mediterranean is like a warm shallow salt water lake and much more placid/predictable (not even tidal!).

[unsunghero]

..

[Ooloo]

Watch out for that undertow

[nostalgiaquest]

SxOtD7OZ294

[imperiouskitten]

metalocalypse is so goofy lol

gotta respect it for existing

[Gustoo]

It's the same thing Starkind.

Riptide pulls people out away from shore.

They are scared and get exhausted trying to fight it. Need to swim at a different angle to a different point, or whatever, and just relax and float. A lot of people are not strong swimmers. In the pacific ocean, it is also very cold which makes it worse.

Undertow is another kinda fantasy super scary thing. Its basically just water moving the way water moves. "under tow" happens when the shoreline is heavily sloped, so the water moving the way water moves has an effect of pulling a person down.

A large contributor is that areas with large "under tow" effects, being steeper are more dangerous even if the water was perfectly still. One step in towards the ocean equals like 4 feet of water height. Combine that with even a mild swell and you are under water, and if you float out at all you are many feet from the floor. Then, the steep sand is difficult to walk on as the waves are beating the shore and rushing back down the shore to the ocean "pulling you down" and you drown.

There is a beach near me where every couple of years an entire family dies. The daughter floats away on a floaty, and then the dog follows the daughter out.

The father goes out to bring the daughter back, scared for her life. He seems to struggle and the mother goes in too.

Usually the person on a floaty and the dog live and everyone trying to make rescue attempt dies. Adrenaline makes people think they can survive out there with no experience because it is necessary to do so, but the water is too cold and they are too weak, and they die.

But based on your training you'd be fine, probably.

You can save people in the ocean but unless you are swimming multiple hours a week, bring a god damn flotation device. Even a strong swimmer is likely to be drown by the panicking person they go to rescue without a flotation device.

Shit I'm gunna keep a life preserver in my car from now on.

[starkind]

It's the same thing Starkind.

Riptide pulls people out away from shore.

They are scared and get exhausted trying to fight it. Need to swim at a different angle to a different point, or whatever, and just relax and float. A lot of people are not strong swimmers. In the pacific ocean, it is also very cold which makes it worse.

Undertow is another kinda fantasy super scary thing. Its basically just water moving the way water moves. "under tow" happens when the shoreline is heavily sloped, so the water moving the way water moves has an effect of pulling a person down.

A large contributor is that areas with large "under tow" effects, being steeper are more dangerous even if the water was perfectly still. One step in towards the ocean equals like 4 feet of water height. Combine that with even a mild swell and you are under water, and if you float out at all you are many feet from the floor. Then, the steep sand is difficult to walk on as the waves are beating the shore and rushing back down the shore to the ocean "pulling you down" and you drown.

There is a beach near me where every couple of years an entire family dies. The daughter floats away on a floaty, and then the dog follows the daughter out.

The father goes out to bring the daughter back, scared for her life. He seems to struggle and the mother goes in too.

Usually the person on a floaty and the dog live and everyone trying to make rescue attempt dies. Adrenaline makes people think they can survive out there with no experience because it is necessary to do so, but the water is too cold and they are too weak, and they die.

But based on your training you'd be fine, probably.

You can save people in the ocean but unless you are swimming multiple hours a week, bring a god damn flotation device. Even a strong swimmer is likely to be drown by the panicking person they go to rescue without a flotation device.

Shit I'm gunna keep a life preserver in my car from now on.

Man, that is a sad story.

Even the badest asses get got tho.

Definitely. Floatation devices all the way.

I had dreams of like swimming the English Channel or doing like a 5k ocean swim. Seems reckless. There are a few people that seem to get away with it though.

I did give myself hypothermia once in the ocean. It's a lot easier than people realize. Especially if you have a low bmi, or are really lean. My metabolism couldn't keep up and the wind chill did me in. Had to roll my windows down and crank up the heat in my vehicle.

Seriously good info and thanks. I got a pretty clear picture of what to expect.

[Jimjam]

Some comedian in the UK swam the channel.

David Walliams (https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Walliams)

Says it took him under(!) 11 hours.

Also apparently did the Straight of Gibraltar (a swim between Africa and Europe where the Mediterranean meets the Atlantic).

And the Length of the Thames.

Pretty nuts.

You may have seen Walliams guest on Top Gear - he may have been the record holder for ‘Star in a Reasonably Priced Car’ at one point.

Top Gear almost drowned attempting to cross the channel in ‘home made’ amphibious cars (but that show is of course storyboarded so who knows how much truth there is to that). They also claim to have driven to the North Pole.