Rip Current awareness / Identification

So I popped across to Praa Sands today, as there was a decent swell, with the aim of getting footage of a rip current. Today was a lovely January day, just after a storm…so plenty of swell around.

Now this isn’t your text book rip current and that’s what I like about it. Most rip diagrams show you a perfectly formed rip, running at 90 degrees to the beach. More often than not, rips don’t follow this pattern. They come in all kinds of weird and wonderful shapes and can change shape and strength, depending on the conditions, tidal movement etc.

In this instance, you have a deep(er) ‘trough’ and diagonal rip current which leads onto a shallower bank, where some waves are breaking. This wouldn’t be the worst rip in the world for swimmers, as it would simply push you down the beach (from right to left), onto a shallower bank…where you should be able to get in fairly easily. *It would be more of a problem for children and poor swimmers, as it would carry them out of their depth fairly quickly and induce panic. It would also carry you into the bigger waves, which again can cause panic and issues for less experienced swimmers.

In this example, had the tide been 15-20m higher, this rip current would be much stronger and would lead it’s victims out just past the breaking waves, into deeper water. It’s also worth bearing in mind that if the tide was 20-30m further out (towards low tide), this rip current would simply be dry sand and wouldn’t cause any problems at all. Be aware that rip and their position do change with the tide. The position of rip current on a beach between high and low tide for example, can be very different.