Post #1905056
2023-06-25 15:09 UTC
Replies (36)
-
@marcas@mastodon.ie 2023-06-25 15:12
Credit where due, BTW. I found this on a Facebook Friend's page; he had shared the post of a group called "The Other 98%", of which I know nothing, other than that this is good advice. I had to drastically paraphrase their text to fit Mastodon's character limit, but that's the gist of it.
-
@ArmyGirl@mastodon.world 2023-06-25 15:49
@marcas learned this as a young child in Florida. It works , swim parallel to the shore until you can easily swim in.might be a long walk back to your family but you will get back.
-
@lydiaschoch@mastodon.social 2023-06-25 15:52
@marcas @greene That is excellent and lifesaving advice. I didn’t know that’s what a rip current looks like. Thank you for sharing.
-
@greene@wandering.shop 2023-06-25 16:05
@marcas This is really helpful, thank you. I knew about the ‘swim parallel to shore’ advice, but had no idea how to actually spot a rip current.
-
@dancinyogi@mastodon.sdf.org 2023-06-25 16:11
@marcas My father and I were caught in a rip current when I was 14. The waves were high because of a tropical storm out in the gulf. There wasn't just a rip current; the undertow was also ridiculous. I was fine, but he was a terrible swimmer who panicked. There was no lifeguard (private beach), and I had no idea what to do. All I could do was try to keep him above the surface until two guys swam out to get us. It was terrifying. I was a stupid kid and quickly learned what the ocean can do.
-
@Maria1958@masto.pt 2023-06-25 16:18
@marcas Agueiro (in portuguese)
-
@Jet_030@mstdn.social 2023-06-25 16:34
@marcas
-
@NervousGamedev@gamedev.lgbt 2023-06-25 16:35
@marcas it can happen in lakes too! i remember my mom teaching me how to get out of these when i was a little kid. she really hammered it into me. we always referred to it as "undertoe" tho.
-
@Catweazle@social.vivaldi.net 2023-06-25 16:50
@marcas, they are really dangerous
-
@Beachbum@mastodon.sdf.org 2023-06-25 17:18
@marcas I live on the beach on the Atlantic side and it’s unbelievable. How many people still drown every year. It has to be very difficult to avoid allowing the panic to sit in, which will disrupt your breathing, etc..
-
@rysiek@mstdn.social 2023-06-25 17:24
@marcas a very special thank you for the wonderful image description!
-
@RavynWitch@kind.social 2023-06-25 17:25
@marcas When I was a child I got caught in one of these in the Atlantic Ocean. I had a boogie board and couldn’t figure out why I kept drifting further and further out. I kept swimming and was getting nowhere, getting scared and frustrated. Thankfully a friend’s dad realized what was going on and swam out to me and got us back. He explained rip currents to my parents and me. Forever grateful!
-
@Wolf_Baginski@meow.social 2023-06-25 17:26
@marcas I am pretty sure that some of the things at the water edge are people. Zoom in and you can make out legs.
-
@deerbard@mstdn.io 2023-06-25 17:27
@marcas Never saw anything like this. 😮 Thx for this.
-
@josh@joshaustin.xyz 2023-06-25 18:34
@marcas almost drowned in a rip about 5 years ago because I did indeed swim against it and became exhausted!
-
@ipd@universeodon.com 2023-06-25 18:43
@marcas It has a blonde mustache and a silly laugh!?
-
@Thurgo@mastodon.social 2023-06-25 19:09
@marcas We have very dangerous currents on the eastern shore of Lake Michigan. They are like junior riptides but are still dangerous because average beachgoers don't expect them in fresh water. Lots of unfortunate deaths.
-
@LawrenceShop@sfba.social 2023-06-25 19:22
@marcas Also note the shape of the shoreline. If it undulates like a wave stay out. Look at the picture and it shows that clearly.
-
@EugestShirley@m.ai6yr.org 2023-06-25 19:22
@marcas It is good to stay calm. https://youtu.be/Ug2TMPKGrvc
-
@maiamaia@mastdn.social 2023-06-25 19:23
@marcas you won't easily swim across it, you'll be sucked out by it faster than you can swim so at best you'll go diagonally, I think
-
@healthiswealth@fosstodon.org 2023-06-25 19:24
@marcas Its an old video now but this gives you a good visual on how far out they can go too: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AoZVmgiUcGs
-
@benhaube@twit.social 2023-06-25 19:34
@marcas I hate swimming in the ocean.
-
@jonathanhorowi1@sciences.social 2023-06-25 19:42
@marcas I got caught in one of these (when I was 13, I think?) and the swimming parallel-to-shore thing really works. One warning, though: It's almost never this easy to spot from where you enter the water itself. The higher up you are, the more visible it is.
-
@yoshi_nori@mstdn.social 2023-06-25 20:09
@marcas I wonder how easy/hard it is to spot this from the sand.
-
@opal@ioc.exchange 2023-06-25 20:06
@marcas I remember getting caught in a rip current around 8 years old, when I lived in Florida. I wasn't dragged underwater, thank God. But while playing some aquatic variant of "tag", I suddenly found myself moving *very* quickly out to sea, away from my friends. My friends went to shore to tell my mother, while I hauled ass about 100 feet parallel to the shore, because I had been given this lesson about a billion times in school and in scouts. Then I went in to shore. I was a little tired, but okay. Mom met me at the shore, and she seemed freaked out. I didn't quite grasp why; I had just done what I'd been told to do in that situation, *of course* I was safe. I had no idea rip currents were so dangerous until I was quite a bit older.
-
@kkarhan@mstdn.social 2023-06-25 20:48
@marcas that's some sound advice that I as a certified scuba diver can only second: DON'T FIGHT CURRENTS, BECAUSE YOU CANNOT AND WONT WIN!
-
@redwireless@mstdn.plus 2023-06-25 20:49
@marcas I know this too well - I'm one of the lucky few that was ignorant to this back in 1989 and tried to swim to shore... after 3 big waves that pushed me deep down (the last one I was about to blackout!), somehow, miraculously, I surfaced back up and found myself ashore being given 1st aid by beach goers...I spent about 20 mins face down on the sand just catching my breath and energies...lucky indeed!
-
@Ronno@kbin.social 2023-06-25 20:59
Usually, not in this case it seems, these are also marked with flags on shore.
-
@eccentriccog@mastodon.world 2023-06-25 21:22
@marcas The swimming sideways recommendation is pretty good, but recent updates recognize that it isn't foolproof. https://www.ripcurrentsafety.com/escaping-rips
-
@JoParkerBear@universeodon.com 2023-06-25 21:29
@marcas not that you need my endorsement, but SO TRUE. Listen to this person.
-
@xs4me2@mastodon.social 2023-06-25 21:41
@marcas Exactly!
-
@Esssie31@mastodon.online 2023-06-25 21:43
@marcas 😱
-
@korin@roark.voluminum.net 2023-06-25 21:48
@marcas beaches in my area have signs with these exact warnings. more beaches seriously need it
-
@annamal@mastodon.nz 2023-06-25 22:24
@marcas this ad about them from 1990 stuck in my head https://youtu.be/vEbMFF5nhiI
-
@dj3ei@mastodon.radio 2023-06-25 22:25
In the early 1940s, my late mother was a kid from the German heavy industry Ruhr area. Her entire school fled from the allied bombing attacks (bombing of civilian targets was ugly custom in WW II) to the Baltic Sea coast. One beach day, several members of her class were caught in a strong current. Mom made it to shore by herself, but the teachers had to get in and rescue pupils that had drifted very far away. This was one of the terrifying stories mom occasionally told. @marcas
-
@tryst@meow.social 2023-06-25 22:26
@marcas Fluid dynamics wants to kill you