Surviving currents - do nothing?

[billt4sf]

So this article posits a novel approach to unexpected currents for beachgoers -- do nothing and float. The approach is accepted in Australia but not in the US.

I wonder what impact this might have for divers caught in an unexpected current, such as a vertical current. Traditionally we are taught to swim at right angles to the current. (I am not referring to drift diving.)

Is there any actual research that anyone knows of?

Everything You Know About Surviving Rip Currents Is Wrong

- Bill

 

[Bob DBF]

From the article:

Brander has worked with MacMahan and other prominent rip researchers around the world, but lately his studies have focused on something scholars ignored for decades: how swimmers caught in rips actually respond to the life or death terror of being pulled into deep water. He’s interviewed dozens of survivors and strapped GPS devices onto actual swimmers and put them into rips. The results are not so clear-cut.
“We put people in rips that are good swimmers or ****** swimmers,” Brander says. “Everything we’ve done points to the fact that there’s not one single message that works. Sometimes swim parallel is great, sometimes it doesn’t work. Same for floating.”

Back in the olden days when I started swimming in the ocean, I was taught several methods included in the article and focused on keeping my head and not tiring myself for nothing. In addition I was also taught to learn the specifics of the beach as rips can sometimes be felt as a mild current in normal times, or possibly predicted by shoreline characteristics.

I would not take this approach with a down current as it is unknown how deep I would go and the limited amount of gas I am carrying. Also the waterfall style of the downwelling on a wall, from accounts, makes it predictable, like a cove I know that has a rip about 100 yards wide out from a specific rock. It would be either swim out or hang on for the wall, and swim away from the rock on the surface, one reason I always have a snorkel.



Bob

 

[LarryHinDC]

In cases of uncontrolled ascent, we are taught to go spread-eagle to increase drag and slow us down, so your first instinct if facing a down current might be to do the same. That is wrong. That just gives the down current more to hang on to and will push you down quicker. If getting vertical and finning doesn't stop the descent, try to swim horizontally and up or at least horizontally to get out of the current.

 

[boulderjohn]

I read that article while vacationing on the North Carolina beach, and the place where I stayed had rip tide warnings all over the place. I read the article carefully, and saw the part that Bob DBF highlighted and more. I decided that the title of the article is deceptive--there is enough in the article contradicting the title to make me not accept it. The title should say instead Somebody Suggests a Different Strategy for Rip Currents Might Work.

 

[BRT]

At my age I'm not going to risk a heart attack to swim too hard against anything. That said, I'd have to try to swim sideways out of a down current if I didn't have anything to hang onto. Other fast currents they will just have to find me.

 

[Kevrumbo]

Downcurrents in blue water can be the worst dilemma any diver can face especially if you've got Nitrox MOD limits to consider: the more you exert against the downdraft, the harder you breath & use up gas; CO2 retention-Narcosis/Hypercapnia sets in and increases the chances of Ox-tox hit as you approach & go beyond PO2 MOD limits if you cannot arrest the descent. Note that if you go past recommended ppO2/MOD, there is no certainty that you will "instantaneously" suffer an Ox-Tox seizure event --then again there is no guarantee that you won't.

I believe the remedy is NOT to do nothing per se but to objectively not over exert yourself into physical exhaustion, and the vicious cycle of hyperventilation & Hypercapnic CO2 Retention/Narcosis which is thought to be a trigger to Cerebral/CNS/O2 Toxicity Seizures; And if that means not to fight the downcurrent -trading depth for time in order to recover nominal breathing & desist further physical exertion to break the CO2 cycle- then so be it. If you cannot fight it, or flee from it (and you've got plenty of breathing gas remaining); just go flow with it for a few minutes until it slackens or ebbs . . .and then make a forceful effort to escape.

You don't make things worse by dropping your weights and "blasting" air in your BCD --you will be assured of rapid if not uncontrolled ascent to the surface if you do manage to break free of the downcurrent. Again, such is the dilemma of this worst case scenario: do you risk an AGE with an uncontrolled rocket ascent, or ride-out the downdraft to depth until it ebbs?

Do a combination of the following in moderation --inflate BC/Wing, maintain trim & control as best you can; relax and whatever you do, don't physically exhaust yourself uselessly into the greater danger of Hypercapnia and further expend your breathing gas supply. And when the right time presents itself -i.e. you find the downcurrent's edge or the downdraft begins to slack- then start kicking vigorously to escape it.

Indeed, it can be tough dilemma to be in with several make-or-break draconian decisions to consider & execute at precisely the right time. . .

 

[boulderjohn]

Downcurrents in blue water can be the worst dilemma any diver can face especially if you've got Nitrox MOD limits to consider: the more you exert against the downdraft, the harder you breath & use up gas; CO2 retention-Narcosis/Hypercapnia sets in and increases the chances of Ox-tox hit as you approach & go beyond PO2 MOD limits if you cannot arrest the descent.

Does everyone realize that the article is talking about rip currents on the surface and not about down currents?

 

[Z Gear]

Does everyone realize that the article is talking about rip currents on the surface and not about down currents?

Thanks for clarifying, I was just thinking the same thing!

 

[Kevrumbo]

So this article posits a novel approach to unexpected currents for beachgoers -- do nothing and float. The approach is accepted in Australia but not in the US.

I wonder what impact this might have for divers caught in an unexpected current, such as a vertical current. Traditionally we are taught to swim at right angles to the current. (I am not referring to drift diving.)

Is there any actual research that anyone knows of?

Everything You Know About Surviving Rip Currents Is Wrong

- Bill

Does everyone realize that the article is talking about rip currents on the surface and not about down currents?

John do you realize the OP also posited the parenthetical comment above in bold to expand on as well? The controversial strategy is similar for both albeit for different tactical reasons in a downcurrent ("Vertical current"): "If you can't fight it, or flee from it -->then flow with it".

 

[boulderjohn]

I apologize--I missed the part where he said he was trying to equate the two.