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While swimming in the water at Montara State Beach on Monday afternoon, a mother and daughter were yanked in by a riptide. Several people, in fact, got caught up in the rip current. Acccording to CBS 5, "four adults were treated at the scene and two childen were taken bby helicopter to Stanford Hospital." An unidentified mother and daughter team, however, were later pronounced dead. Yikes. Also, here's a riptide reminder: Rip currents can be recogzined by “unusually calm waters, caused by the channel of water flowing out." The water color might also appear different from the surrounding water next to it. You should ALWAYS check for any possible rip currents before dashing off into the warter. If you find yourself caught in a rip current, you should fight it by swimming sideways, parallel to the beach, until you have reached safer, calmer waters . Read more about riptides at Wikipedia. UPDATE: The mother and daughter have been identified as Romila Higgins, 41, and Indali Higgins, 5, of Walnut Creek.
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“unusually calm waters, caused by the channel of water flowing out." D'oh, nope. Rips are all choppy, ummm look at the photo you posted. Usually it's a bunch of brown sandy water with extra chop going from the beach back out to sea. They're easy to spot if you're looking for them. To get out of them swim sideways, parallel to the beach, until you are back in "calm" water, then swim in.
um, don' write, "um," "ummm," or "ummmmm" when commenting here. please. it benefits everyone.
also, you're right, rip tide can be choppy as all heck. but depending on the beach, some of them can be smooth and barely noticeable.
and, yes, swimming parallel to the beach will help swimmers getting sucked out. will add that to the original post. thanks.
Unusually calm is more like "lack of waves" Rips often occur near holes in the sand bar, where waves are less likely to break. The water there is often choppy, like gentle rapids in a river.
One of my worst days was a friend and I getting pulled out at Ocean Beach while boogie boarding. It was a ridiculously foggy day and we quickly lost sight of the shore and pretty much any sense of direction. We floundered out there for a _long time_ before stumbling across a couple waves that we could only assume must be heading to shore. I'll tell you this - once the cold and fatigue starts setting in, you realize that this is truly an awful way to go.
Yo Brock: you incorrectly state "If you find yourself caught in a rip current, you 'should not fight it' by swimming sideways..."
Actually, you SHOULD fight it BY swimming sideways. Don't fight it by swimming back to the beach.