Rips

Our summer safety tip, brought to you via the NY Times:

When people think about natural hazards, they usually think about tornadoes or hurricanes or earthquakes. But there is another natural hazard that takes more lives in an average year in the United States than any of those - rip currents.

Each year in American waters, rip currents pull about 100 panicked swimmers to their deaths. According to the United States Lifesaving Association, lifeguards pull out at least 70,000 Americans from the surf each year, 80 percent from rip currents . . .

Rip currents are often erroneously called riptides or undertow, but they are not caused by tidal action. And although waders knocked off their feet by rip currents may end up underwater, the currents themselves pull people along the surface, not down.

Nothing new here for anyone who's spent any time surfing. But everyone else should really pay attention -- the average lack of water knowledge even among keen swimmers can easily prove fatal. In addition to the Times piece, take a look at the NOAA site, which has quite a bit of useful info.

Posted by David on June 6, 2005 8:48 PM