Rip current escape strategies: lessons for swimmers and coastal rescue authorities |
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| Authors: | M Miloshis W J Stephenson |
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| Institution: | (1) School of Engineering and Information Technology, Charles Darwin University, Darwin, NT, Australia;(2) Department of Geography, University of Otago, Dunedin, Otago, New Zealand |
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| Abstract: | Lagrangian flow of two rip currents was measured using human drifters to understand how variations in surf zone circulation
affect exit positions of floating swimmers. Based on these results, two escape strategies were assessed, ‘do nothing’ and
‘swim parallel to the beach’. The drifter paths and exit positions were analysed to determine the best escape strategy for
passive swimmers in each scenario. Of the two methods, doing nothing to allow the rip current to take a swimmer is the most
effective strategy. More than 75% of rip current flow scenarios could hinder chances of escape of swimmers if the wrong direction
was chosen to swim parallel to the beach to safety. This is because in many situations a swimmer encounters not only a rip
current flowing offshore but also a longshore current flowing parallel to the beach. The best education campaign for the public,
in addition to only swimming on a patrolled beach, would be to promote the ‘do nothing’ rip current escape strategy, as it
covers all flow scenarios without reducing a swimmer’s chance of survival. |
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