Five tips on surviving surf rips
Dr Jak McCarroll from the School of Geosciences offers five pointers for swimmers this summer.
1. Understand where rips are found
Rips generally occur on ocean beaches where waves are big enough to go surfing, usually at the more exposed end of the beach.
2. Learn to identify a rip
Dark patches of water, wavy, snaky shorelines, outward bending wave crests all indicate rips may be present. Their flow behaviour can change every 5-10 minutes.
3. Play it safe
There’s no silver bullet to escaping rip currents, which are hazardous and unpredictable. People who are not experienced surfers or bodysurfers should always swim between the flags, which are positioned to avoid rips.
4. Experienced surf swimmers can try a series of rip escape methods
These rip escape methods include staying afloat, or swimming parallel to shore – before finding one that works for the rip you’re in. Our research showed this can take up to 10 minutes so you should conserve energy, swimming at a gradual pace; escaping a rip is like a game of chess.
5. Don't panic
Panicking and swimming as fast as you can into the rip is a good way to become exhausted and drown. However our research has shown that an early controlled attempt to swim onshore (towards the shore) is often successful. If you attempt to escape a rip by swimming onshore, do it early and if it doesn’t succeed within 30 seconds of steady paced swimming, STOP and try something else.
Dr McCarroll’s findings on how to best escape rips were recently published in Geomorphology and Natural Hazards.
Related articles
Resetting the table to halt expanding waistlines
Can farmers, producers and regulators work together at all points of the food supply chain to help curb Australia’s growing obesity problem?
Eureka Prize for Associate Professor Michael J. Biercuk
Associate Professor Biercuk was recognised with the prestigious prize for contributions at the leading edge of quantum science research.
Scientists should take a leaf out of wellness bloggers' books
How can we distinguish credible wellness information from unfounded pseudoscience? And why is it that wellness gurus are often taken more seriously than scientists? Jackie Randles writes.
18 of our most exciting scientists on Twitter
It's National Science Week this week from 15-23 August and for all you science lovers, we have created a list of the University of Sydney's most exciting scientists on Twitter.
How Einstein could help unlock the mysteries of space travel
Warp drives might be the stuff of science fiction, but they could be a step closer to reality if we look to Einstein's theory of gravity, according to a University of Sydney researcher.
Proof is in the breakfast cereal
The science of snap, crackle and pop has expanded beyond the breakfast bowl with an international research team using puffed rice cereal to explain the movement and crushing of porous materials when compressed.
University of Sydney celebrates Sydney Science Festival
From Einstein's theory of gravity to Aboriginal astronomical knowledge, University of Sydney researchers are proving there's no single formula for exploring a love of science this National Science Week.
How mobile phones could save us from obesity
A world-first intervention designed by Charles Perkins Centre researchers specifically for young people found mobile phones could improve health and halt weight gain.
Starchy carbs, not a Paleo diet, advanced the human race
Starchy carbohydrates were a major factor in the evolution of the human brain, according to a new study co-authored by researchers from the University of Sydney's Charles Perkins Centre and Faculty of Agriculture and Environment.
Big data maps world's ocean floor
Scientists from the University of Sydney's School of Geosciences have led the creation of the world's first digital map of the seafloor's geology.