Rip currents are the most serious hazard that threatens swimmers in South Florida, where they can be just as dangerous in the winter as in the summer, an expert on beach safety told WLRN.
The latest victim to rip currents in the region was Victor Enrique Castaneda Jr., 19, who died earlier this month after being pulled out to sea while trying to save his sister from a rip current off South Pointe Beach on Miami Beach.
During an interview Friday on WLRN's South Florida Roundup, Dr. Stephen P. Leatherman, professor of Coastal Science at Florida International University, said rip currents can happen on “some of the prettiest days” at the beach — no matter the season.
“We are the number one state for rip current drownings because we have 850 miles of good sandy beaches,” said Dr Leatherman, who is widely known as Dr. Beach due to his expertise. “And you can swim, at least here in South Florida, year-round.”
Simply put, a rip current is a channel of water pulling you out to sea. However, in South Florida rip currents usually come with wind chop, also known as wind waves. They are capable of sweeping even the strongest swimmers out to sea. Although estimates vary, rip currents are responsible for approximately 100 deaths every year and probably thousands worldwide.
READ MORE: What you need to know about deadly rip currents in South Florida
More than 80% of beach rescues involve rip currents, according to the U.S. Lifesaving Association. So far this year, the National Weather Service, the federal agency that tracks fatalities nationwide, reports 53 deaths from rip currents in U.S. waters — with 16 in Florida.
In his conversation with host Tim Padgett, Leatherman explained how rip currents form and behave in such a dangerous way. He also talked about the importance of wearing polarizing sunglasses and staying near lifeguards to avoid getting caught in a rip current.
Despite the risks, he says, many people continue to swim in the ocean without fully understanding the dangers of rip currents. His website includes a wealth of information about rip currents, including tips on surviving them.
This interview has been edited for brevity and clarity.
PADGETT: For the public at large, rip currents are something of an unknown – despite the fact that, as you’ve pointed out in your research, they are “the most serious hazard that threatens bather safety” at the world’s beaches. Can you walk us through how rip currents form and how they behave in such a dangerous way?
LEATHERMAN: [There are] several different types of rip currents, but the two that we see here in South Florida are ones that we call sandbar gap rips. In other words, where there are gaps or holes in the sand bar. And the other type occur near structures such as the jetties at the inlet into the board of Miami where the young person, I think got caught. These are sandbars that are in the near shore, in the first 100 feet or so of the shoreline. And to the average person, it just looks normal. Also, we don't have any sediment in our water. We don't have rivers coming here. We live on limestone. Fortunately, our water is very clear. But, unfortunately, what really makes rip currents show up is when there's murky water and you see the murky water going on shore. We don't have that called telltale signs of rip currents here. We have clear water rips, which are really hard to see
You say more people drown in rip currents annually than they do in hurricanes, for example. Do we know how many people drown and die each year from being caught in rip currents – as opposed to, say, dangers like hurricanes or shark attacks?
On average, it's about 100 people per year in the United States. And, we are the number one state for rip current drownings because we have 850 miles of good sandy beaches. You can swim at least here in South Florida year round, and Florida gets over 100 million visitors every year. That's an incredible number of visitors and we're the third most popular state now. So, you put that all together, you can see why we have a lot of rip current drownings.
And one of the more interesting factors I wanted to ask you about from your research, which apparently involves South Florida especially, is that rip currents here are more dangerous because they’re what you call “clear-water rips” that are harder for swimmers to detect?
A lot of places if you've been to California or other beaches, you can see the water is not as clear. Particularly where the rivers come down in California, you can pretty much see them because this plume of sediment is going offshore. It's pretty obvious if you know what you're looking at. They have a lot of rip currents in California, but people do recognize them better there. Whereas here, we have the Miami River, but it's not really a river. The point of it is that our rip currents are not very strong. But they're often present even with mild winds, of 20 miles an hour. That's enough. It might seem like a beautiful day to go to the beach. And what could be the problem? The waves aren't threatening, they're only a couple feet high, and yet, you don't see this.
What I tell people to do is to wear polarizing sunglasses, because if you don't wear polarizing sunglasses, with the glint off the sun, or your regular sunglasses you can't see the holes in the sandbar. So, you need to look for those holes in the sand bars and stay there. And also, I'd say people ought to swim near a lifeguard.
Which of course brings us to the discussion of how to escape a rip current once it has you in its grip. You point out there are four main points of advice: First, do not try to swim against the rip current, meaning don’t try to swim directly back to shore, because frankly you can’t. Second, do not panic. Third, swim parallel to the shore until you’re out of the rip current. And fourth, stay afloat and signal for help. However, you say “there is agreement regarding the first two points, but much debate about the other two.” Explain that for us, please.
Well, in some rip currents, we don't see them in Florida, but we do in California, some of them curl back. And so there's some advice that says, well, just float, let the current take you, and eventually it may take you back to the sandbar. And they claim it takes you back to the sandbar 80% of the time in their study in Monterey Bay, California. To me, 80% is not enough. If you were going to go on an airplane, and they told you you only had an 80% chance of making it. I think you probably wouldn't go on the airplane. Sometimes, when the rip currents are forming, there's a slight angle to the approach of the waves on the shoreline, which means there's going to be also a longshore current. And if you're trying to swim parallel to the shore and you're swimming against the longshore current, if it's strong enough, it could pull you back in the rip current. If that's happening, you don't want to fight that. You need to turn around and swim the other way.
The first thing I do when I go to the beach is I study the waves. And, that's what I advise people to do. How big are they? What direction are they coming from? And you're going to know if there's a longshore current. If the waves are coming at an angle they're going to create a current, the opposite direction that the waves are approaching. But, swimming parallel to the shore is still the best advice in terms of how to extricate yourself from this rip current. That's really the only way to do it here in South Florida because our rips do not recur back.
You can listen to the full conversation above or wherever you get your podcasts by searching for The South Florida Roundup.
