rip tides

question, explain rip tides to me.. beyond how we explain it to the new diver. I know it is a strong flow of water pushing back to sea through a narrow channel. but I want more. if you are caught in it. do you go up, down, sideways. do you see only froth? how long do they last? where can you find them.

who has experience. how do you deal with them.
how do you prevent getting caugth in one?
How do you get out of an easy one?
how do you deal with a bad one?

thanks for the help

leelee:

question, explain rip tides to me.. beyond how we explain it to the new diver. I know it is a strong flow of water pushing back to sea through a narrow channel. but I want more. if you are caught in it. do you go up, down, sideways. do you see only froth? how long do they last? where can you find them.

who has experience. how do you deal with them.
how do you prevent getting caugth in one?
How do you get out of an easy one?
how do you deal with a bad one?

thanks for the help

Click to expand...

After a quick google search...

http://www.ripcurrents.noaa.gov/overview.shtml

A good read which answers many of your questions...

Its a current, a temporary one, not a tide. They are the result of wind driven breakers on the beach. Water piles up, has to go somewhere, so it slides laterally along the beach until it finds a "path" back out to sea.

Rips can be very strong and annoying, or you can use them to ride out past the breakers. Next time you're on the beach, look for the tiny ones. A good 6 inch "wave" can create a rip about 2-3 feet wide and 6-7' long.

leelee:

who has experience. how do you deal with them.
how do you prevent getting caugth in one?
How do you get out of an easy one?
how do you deal with a bad one?

Click to expand...

1.) I just swim parallel to shore. I'm a bad example - My bro and I used to ride them for fun when we were younger. I wouldn't recommend this.
2.) If you can see the white breakers don't swim there.
3.) Swim parallel to shore. A nice method is scull backwards (head first) at a 45 angle towards shore.
4.) i've waited it out, but it was a pain in the *** swimming back to shore. At worse, wave at the lifeguard (hopefully there's one in the vicinity. If they're properly trained they'll be looking out for people in the rips already)

leelee:

question, explain rip tides to me.. beyond how we explain it to the new diver. I know it is a strong flow of water pushing back to sea through a narrow channel. but I want more. if you are caught in it. do you go up, down, sideways. do you see only froth? how long do they last? where can you find them.

who has experience. how do you deal with them.
how do you prevent getting caugth in one?
How do you get out of an easy one?
how do you deal with a bad one?

thanks for the help

Click to expand...

From my understanding a "rip tide" is caused by a sandbar (usually) with a break in it. The water trying to get back out to sea encounters this and is forced to run parallel to shore to the break in the bar where it rushes back out. This can be quite fast. The problem arises when a swimmer (diver, etc) gets caught in one. The natural response is to fight it (swim against it) which quickly tires the swimmer out which can result in drowning.

To escape a rip tide, expend as little energy as possible while keeping your head above water. Let the tide take you out and it will die out. Then either swim parallel to shore before swimming in, or swim at an angle back to the beach.

leelee:

who has experience. how do you deal with them.
how do you prevent getting caugth in one?
How do you get out of an easy one?
how do you deal with a bad one?

thanks for the help

Click to expand...

Rips are caused by outgoing water from incoming waves, or surf. The rips occur at intervals down the beach. Some are always in the same place due to a rocky bottom and some shift due to a moving sand bottom.
The bigger the waves, the wider and stronger the rip tide. Pipeline, the famous wave in Hawaii has a rip about 30- 40 feet wide with 1 foot standing waves when it has 6-8 foot surf.
The best prevention is to not go in water with big surf. (more than 2-3 feet can have rips that can sweep you off your feet)The rip is where the waves aren't breaking as big generally. It's in between the peaks. The rip will cause the wave to "double up" on itself as the outgoing current hits the incoming waves.
To get out, go across it. But this will take you into the breaking waves....but these will push you towards shore.

If you're surfing.....the rip is your friend. It's how you get outside without getting pounded by incoming waves...