How to stay safe when there’s a rip current

It’s estimated that more than one million people visited San Diego’s beaches during the Fourth of July weekend. And while that might have been the peak of packed beaches, the fabulous summer weather is sure to keep luring crowds back.

Fortunately, San Diego’s lifeguards are prepared.

With 17 miles of coastline, “America’s Finest City” offers a wide range of beaches for residents and visitors to choose from. On them, nine permanent lifeguard stations and dozens of seasonal stations during the summer months are staffed to ensure that swimmers remain safe.

During the July Fourth holiday weekend alone, San Diego Fire-Rescue Department reports that lifeguards made 832 rescues. A primary challenge they — and swimmers — faced was rip currents.

According to the National Ocean Service (NOS), rip currents are powerful, narrow, fast-moving currents of water that run from the beach out to the ocean. Rip currents are found along beaches with breaking waves and near sandbars and reefs, or structures, such as jetties and piers. They form when waves breaking in the surf zone — the area between breaking waves and the beach — push water ashore, forcing the water in the surf zone out, which creates currents rapidly flowing away from the beach.

Swimmers caught in a riptide often struggle to swim out of it or stay afloat and can be swept away from the shoreline. This can lead to near- or even fatal drownings. In fact, it’s estimated that about 100 people drown in rip currents and 30,000 swimmers are rescued from rip currents every year.

Rip current safety tips

Swimming with a partner near lifeguards offers some of the best protection against accidents due to rip currents. It’s also essential to ask the lifeguards where it’s safe to swim, follow their instructions and stay in their line of vision.

Parents and guardians should always keep small children within arm’s reach when near or in the water. And you can review the National Weather Service’s San Diego surf forecast to learn about the rip current risk before visiting a beach.

If you are caught in a rip current, the NOS offers the following tips:

• Do not panic.

  Relax and stay calm.

• Swim parallel to the shore.

  Do not swim directly toward the beach against the current. Rather, swim parallel, past the rip current’s boundaries, approaching the beach at an angle.

• Keep your head above water.

  Float on your back or tread water if necessary. Do not exhaust yourself trying to swim against the current.

• Get help.

  Call out and wave to a lifeguard for help.

If you see a swimmer caught in a rip current, notify a lifeguard immediately. If the beach is not monitored by a lifeguard, call 911 and try to throw something floatable out to the swimmer to grab onto so that you can pull them in. However, do not try to swim to them, as you might also get caught in the current.

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