Rip Tide
Jan's daughter-in-law Nancy got caught in a rip tide in Costa Rica while on a mission trip there. She was able to pull herself out of it, but another member of her group, a young boy, almost drowned. He was farther out in the water, unable to swim to shore, and others in the group were unable to save him. Nancy and others hollered for help. Fortunately, a female lifeguard appeared and was able to swim out and rescue the boy, only seconds before he would have drowned. Because of this incident, I have become curious about rip tides. I relay the following info from Wikipedia: the correct terminology is Rip Current (commonly referred to simply as Rip) . It is a strong SURFACE flow of water returning seaward from near the shore. It is not an undertow. A Rip is much more dangerous at low tide. Never go into the water without lifeguard supervision from two hours before to four hours after the maxiumum low tide. If caught in one, the best advice is not to fight it but to to swim parallel to the shoreline in order to leave it. Surfers love Rips as they save the effort of having to paddle out to catch another set of waves. As to the cause of a Rip: "When wind and waves push water towards the shore, the previous backwash is often pushed sideways by the oncoming waves. This water streams along the shoreline until it find an exit back to the sea. The resulting rip current is usually narrow and located in a trench between sandbars, under piers or along jetties." So it is advisable to stay at least 100 feet away from piers and jetties, which impede waves, encouraging rip currents to form. A general suggestion of mine: Never go into any unfamiliar body of water without checking it out.
Jan's daughter-in-law Nancy got caught in a rip tide in Costa Rica while on a mission trip there. She was able to pull herself out of it, but another member of her group, a young boy, almost drowned. He was farther out in the water, unable to swim to shore, and others in the group were unable to save him. Nancy and others hollered for help. Fortunately, a female lifeguard appeared and was able to swim out and rescue the boy, only seconds before he would have drowned. Because of this incident, I have become curious about rip tides. I relay the following info from Wikipedia: the correct terminology is Rip Current (commonly referred to simply as Rip) . It is a strong SURFACE flow of water returning seaward from near the shore. It is not an undertow. A Rip is much more dangerous at low tide. Never go into the water without lifeguard supervision from two hours before to four hours after the maxiumum low tide. If caught in one, the best advice is not to fight it but to to swim parallel to the shoreline in order to leave it. Surfers love Rips as they save the effort of having to paddle out to catch another set of waves. As to the cause of a Rip: "When wind and waves push water towards the shore, the previous backwash is often pushed sideways by the oncoming waves. This water streams along the shoreline until it find an exit back to the sea. The resulting rip current is usually narrow and located in a trench between sandbars, under piers or along jetties." So it is advisable to stay at least 100 feet away from piers and jetties, which impede waves, encouraging rip currents to form. A general suggestion of mine: Never go into any unfamiliar body of water without checking it out.
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