Dangerous Rip Currents Claim 11 Lives In Less Than 2 Weeks

[odanny]

And now it is 12, after former NFL QB Ryan Mallet drowned.

https://www.cnn.com/2023/06/27/us/rip-currents-deaths-florida-panama-city/index.html

Former NFL, Arkansas QB Ryan Mallett dies in apparent drowning at 35

Mallett had worked as a high school football coach in Arkansas since 2022.

sports.yahoo.com

 

[shockedcanadian]

Mother Nature is undefeated. R.I.P

 

[Polishprince]

I'll keep that in mind when I go up to Lake Erie in a few weeks

 

[shockedcanadian]

I'll keep that in mind when I go up to Lake Erie in a few weeks

Safety first, always! Simple decisions that make the difference between life snd death. For you or someone else. Enjoy your time with nature. I wish I could too.

 

[Esdraelon]

I'll keep that in mind when I go up to Lake Erie in a few weeks

I've lived next to the Gulf of Mexico all my life. Rip currents are only so deadly due to tourists (primarily) not being aware of how to escape them. They see themselves being moved away from shore and they panic and try to swim against the flow. They exhaust themselves and drown. Rips actually create small channels and funnel a flow offshore but those "channels" are usually quite narrow. If a person realizes what is happening and they turn 90 degrees and swim across the channel, they escape it pretty easily.

Just remember if one ever grabs you, swim parallel to the shore. You'll get out of it eventually.
I live about 3 hours or so from where 9 of these drownings have occurred - Panama City Beach - and those numbers are EXCEPTIONALLY high for an entire summer, let alone for a single month. Two dads died on Father's Day trying to save their child from the rip.

 

[HereWeGoAgain]

It's a shame people dont know how to deal with rip currents.
Hell I knew how to deal with them when I was 5 fer fukes sake!!
Every year people drown at San Luis pass in Galveston when there's signs everywhere warning about them.
And they have these signs in spanish yet invariably it's mexican kids who drown the most. Put a fucken like preserver on your kids for Christs Sake!!!
We used to gig flounder at the pass all the time which is done late at night and early morning in the coldest months of the year.
It's not uncommon for the winds to be blowing and the temps are in the upper 30's so you wear neoprene chest waders. If you step off a ledge into the channel you're a goner without a life preserver,your waders fill up with water and the sucktion makes it impossible to remove them.
And then you have the dangers of hyperthermia if you do manage to get out of the channel.

 

[HereWeGoAgain]

I've lived next to the Gulf of Mexico all my life. Rip currents are only so deadly due to tourists (primarily) not being aware of how to escape them. They see themselves being moved away from shore and they panic and try to swim against the flow. They exhaust themselves and drown. Rips actually create small channels and funnel a flow offshore but those "channels" are usually quite narrow. If a person realizes what is happening and they turn 90 degrees and swim across the channel, they escape it pretty easily.

Just remember if one ever grabs you, swim parallel to the shore. You'll get out of it eventually.
I live about 3 hours or so from where 9 of these drownings have occurred - Panama City Beach - and those numbers are EXCEPTIONALLY high for an entire summer, let alone for a single month. Two dads died on Father's Day trying to save their child from the rip.

Exactly right.
While the authorities try and educate the tourists about rip tides the tourists seem to ignore the dangers like they're somehow immune to them.
You can drive down the beach and if you know what to look for they're easily spotted.
When wade fishing we looked for them because they'll pull your bait out into deep water where the same current pulled the bait fish out making the reds or trout hang out at the end of the rip.
We also used the riptides to pull us out when surfing along the jetties.
You just jump into the riptide and let it pull you out as far as it'll take you.

 

[odanny]

I got caught in one in Waimea Bay in the 80's it was scary as hell because there were also some big ass waves to deal with. I'm not a good swimmer and it makes me wary to go in the ocean nowadays.

 

[jackflash]

I've lived next to the Gulf of Mexico all my life. Rip currents are only so deadly due to tourists (primarily) not being aware of how to escape them. They see themselves being moved away from shore and they panic and try to swim against the flow. They exhaust themselves and drown. Rips actually create small channels and funnel a flow offshore but those "channels" are usually quite narrow. If a person realizes what is happening and they turn 90 degrees and swim across the channel, they escape it pretty easily.

Just remember if one ever grabs you, swim parallel to the shore. You'll get out of it eventually.
I live about 3 hours or so from where 9 of these drownings have occurred - Panama City Beach - and those numbers are EXCEPTIONALLY high for an entire summer, let alone for a single month. Two dads died on Father's Day trying to save their child from the rip.

How to avoid the rips!

 

[HereWeGoAgain]

I got caught in one in Waimea Bay in the 80's it was scary as hell because there were also some big ass waves to deal with. I'm not a good swimmer and it makes me wary to go in the ocean nowadays.

The bigger the surf the stronger the riptide.
With todays suspender style rip cord inflatable life vest there's no excuse

 

[22lcidw]

It is not difficult. If the riptides and the surf is rough. Stay in lower water. Waist high in that situation is still feeling the waves. Chest high is the danger.

 

[luiza]

So you are all discounting Aliens from their underwater base ? You have been warned , but hopefully smart people will always have a large oxygen tank strapped on their back plus food supplies .

 

[Biff_Poindexter]

RIP to Ryan....I remember him...seemed like a nice guy