A slightly different take on rip currents

A SLIGHTLY DIFFERENT TAKE ON RIP CURRENTS.

I was looking at this photo and a thought popped into my head. A river works in almost the same way as a rip current and is quite a good way of describing how rip currents work.

It rains on 'high land' and the rain hits the ground and finds the 'path of least resistance'...flowing/seeps downhill and funnels into small streams...that then join other small streams...forming larger streams...joining rivers etc. The water will always flow downhill, due to gravity and always find either the sea or a lake / body of water. Once the river joins the sea and energy from that river disperses very quickly. That's because the water is back at sea level, gravity no longer dictates that 'downhill' flow and the current will fade quite quickly. Also, rivers can be fast flowing, most river/streams are never that wide and rarely travel in a straight line. Rivers will change course and meander.

Rip currents really work in the same way. Water is transported to 'high land' (up the beach) by waves and sometimes large tidal movement. That water will again find the 'path of least resistance' and 'funnel' back down the gradient of the beach or flow out along smooth, hard surfaces - like harbour walls. This is because those smooth surfaces offer less resistance than sand and rocks/boulders on the beach. Rips will move around, meander and rarely flow in straight lines, much like a river....and like a river, once the water in the body of a rip flows out past the breaking waves, the energy of the rip will disperse quite quickly. For the same reason as the river, the water is back at 'sea level'. Much like the river, rip currents are often narrow and can be powerful.

If you imagine falling into a river. The obvious thing to do would be to swim to the side, aim for the bank and pull yourself out...no point in swimming directly against the river...you'll just get tired and won't get anywhere. The river will always win! Exactly the same principle can be applied to the rip current. Rip currents are generally narrow (in the size of swell you're likely to be swimming in, maybe up to 10 metres wide). Aim to swim out to the side and then swim back to shore. Often a good idea to aim for breaking waves either side of the rip.

Sea Swim Cornwall's Safer Swimming Guide - Whipsiderry

We swam two route here, as part of our 2020 Charity swim. If you get the conditions right and plan this swim it should be perfectly safe. Don’t turn up and simply try and swim it! At certain stages of the tide, particularly with a large outgoing tide you get a lot of water movement. If you are going to attempt it, follow the safety advice on the guide and be careful.

Our Safety Record

We come from a swimming and lifeguarding background, here at Sea Swim Cornwall. For us, good lifeguarding is all about being pro-active and preventing people from getting in a situation where they need to be assisted or rescued. This is the approach we adopt with our swimming holidays and activities. On occasion we will do the odd ‘rough’ swim but it will be with a group of swimmers that we know and we’re always very transparent about the conditions you’ll be swimming in…particularly if they’re going to be less than ideal.

We do offer set location swims but these do come with the risk of being cancelled or re-arranged, as if the conditions are not safe we will cancel. The majority of our swims (and the swims that we publish on our social media) are arranged at short-notice, having looked at the short-range forecast. They are selected based on the quality and beauty of the swim itself but primarily they’re based on the conditions. For both your safety and enjoyment.

Since 2015 (at the time of writing) we've never had to rescue a customer. In that time we've assisted 2 swimmers over approx 200-300m of slightly choppy water...before they continued swimming. Off the top of my head we've had 1 swimmers since 2015 injure themselves (rolled their ankle on dry land).

We totally appreciate that some people get a little anxious at the thought of sea swimming, especially if they’ve never swum any kind of distance in the sea. We can assure you that all of our swims are thoroughly risk assessed and selection is based on the appropriate conditions.