re: LSU student dies after trying to save boy from rip current in Florida

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I know it pulls you out and away, But can a rip current suck you beneath the surface? legit wondering

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Common mistakes describing them:

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The term rip tide is often incorrectly used to refer to rip currents, which are not tidal flows. A rip current is a strong, narrow jet of water that moves away from the beach and into the ocean as a result of local wave motion. Rip currents can flow quickly, are unpredictable, and come about from what happens to waves as they interact with the shape of the sea bed. In contrast, a rip tide is caused by tidal movements, as opposed to wave action, and is a predictable rise and fall of the water level.

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Typically neither of these pull you under, although I'm quite sure there are instances this can occur.

This is what pulls you under:

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An "undertow" is a steady, offshore-directed compensation flow, which occurs below waves near the shore. Physically, nearshore, the wave-induced mass flux between wave crest and trough is onshore directed. This mass transport is localized in the upper part of the water column, i.e. above the wave troughs. To compensate for the amount of water being transported towards the shore, a second-order (i.e. proportional to the wave height squared), offshore-directed mean current takes place in the lower section of the water column. This flow – the undertow – affects the nearshore waves everywhere, unlike rip currents localized at certain positions along the shore.

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As horrible as it sounds, 9/10 the rescuer dies in these situations. If you decide to intervene, you better accept it may be your last act.

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Terrible story.

Along those lines, had that same thought while down by the lake in Chicago last summer. We were by a seawall in Lincoln Park, and the waves were washing up over the seawall and then back out. People were swimming and floating no more than a few feet from the wall.

Well, the waves were bouncing off and washing back out and because of it one guy couldn't get the 4 feet back to the edge. He started to panic.

My girlfriend saw it and went down to try and hand him a noodle to pull him in. She's 5'2" and maybe 120 pounds. So I just had a vision of him yanking her in as well. So I went over and tossed him one noodle for flotation, and then used the other one to pull him in. I wasn't getting near the edge (it was slippery) and I damn sure wasn't jumping in with him.

We got him out, and he was pretty shaken up.

ETA: Here are pictures from that day..it doesn't look bad, but you can see there are very few people in the water because of it.

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saw baytiger and thought it was hurricane NOAA baytiger back from the dead and almost stroked out at the thought of him asking that question

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lol was not aware of that username. I'm sure our username reasoning is completely unrelated and I can tell you i know nothing about ocean currents

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And I always thought it was "unertoe"

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Well, to be fair, it does occur under your toes.

I live in Orange Beach and the undertow as we call it has been terrible with East, SE winds blowing. Double red flags flying and people still get in the water, I live close to the Pass and that's the worse but people still in the water. Like I always tell my kids, if you don't fear and respect the Gulf it will get you.

Helpful pic, seen alot of diagrams, but the photo makes it easier to visualize why the advice about riding it out would work.
If you can keep from panicking.
At that point you've literally got nothing but a theory to cling to.
Really sorry about the LSU student, it would be all the more difficult to remain level headed when you are trying to save a child.

I was swimmer at LSU and I went to Panama City beach for spring break once.... it was a no swim day due to waves. I was stupid enough to swim in it... was swimming hard sideways and still took me a while to get to shore... still have pics 20 years later. Self plug, Had I not known how to swim in ocean, got 9th in country for Atlantic Ocean 5k national championship I would have drowned too.



Only other time I’ve been scared was getting a cousins float toy years later. When I swam out to get it, could barely see shore. Didn’t seem that far from balcony.

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Yea rip currents are one of my biggest fears when it comes to the beach. I'm an ok swimmer, but I've heard even the strongest swimmers will struggle in one.

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Don’t even worry about swimming. Chill out, float or just bob riding the waves as it pulls you out. If people could just remember that one thing it would save many swimmers from getting winded and drowning from exhaustion..

Not to sound like an a-hole but the parents of the little kid that they were trying to save should be charged with something here

It was known that there were double red flags all that week.. if not, single red flatly do not let your child into the ocean when there are red flags. They post them everywhere in Destin and Miramar beach