How beachgoers can stay safe from rip currents this summer
Wyatt Werneth of the American Lifeguard Association offers tips on how to stay safe from rip currents for people planning to hit the beaches this summer.
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00:00Good morning. Good to see you again. And this is such an important topic. So let's get right into
00:04it. How can swimmers recognize if they are caught in a rip current? Well, good morning. Thanks for
00:10having us. Terrible, terrible. You know, drowning can be prevented. Rip currents especially. It's
00:16kind of like just stay out of the way. You have to first know before you go, you need to check
00:20the internet and find out the beach that you're going to if it has a lifeguard. You want to swim
00:24in front of a lifeguard. Your chances of drowning in front of a lifeguard are one in 18 million.
00:28Lifeguard is going to help you identify where the rip currents are. And it starts on the beach.
00:32Wherever you're sitting on the beach and you see the water come up and it gets the stuff wet next
00:37to you, that's a rip current. And what you look for on the beach is where that water is coming up
00:41in the two lower areas or sandbars. That reason the water is coming all the way up is because
00:46there's a ditch right there, if you will, and the water is deeper. You want to avoid that.
00:50There's also signs that you can look for up and down the beach, like kind of like a stop sign,
00:55a stoplight, red, high hazard, yellow means medium hazard, and green means not so bad. But
01:02we're always got some kind of hazard out there. But again, drowning can be prevented and staying
01:06away from rip currents can be as long as you can identify them. The stats about swimming in front
01:11of a lifeguard and how much that can reduce drowning is incredible. So that's a big takeaway.
01:16What should someone do, though, if they still find themselves stuck in a rip current?
01:19Well, that's a great question. You do address this and get this into everyone's muscle memory.
01:25If you do happen to find yourself in a rip current, you're not going to get sucked under.
01:29So first thing is do not panic. Relax. You want to kind of float. If you can see someone on the
01:35beach, try to raise your hand, get some help going. Maybe they can call 9-1-1, get a lifeguard
01:40out. You want to relax and either kind of let the current take you, it'll break, and then make your
01:46way back to the beach slowly or swim parallel. But the most important thing, again, is do not
01:52panic. Panicking exerts a lot of energy, and that's where people get overwhelmed and then
01:56they can drown. And you don't ever want to swim against the current because that's going to also
02:01tire you out. The most important thing is just relax, wait for help, and help will arrive at
02:06some point. And it's just a little bit longer that you intend to be there, but just relax and enjoy
02:11the ride. Enjoy the ride. And Wyatt, I think it's really easy. We were just showing a lot of
02:16video. It's easy to see it on video when we're outlining it, when we're color coding it. A lot
02:19of people may not be able to see it probably from standing onto the sand. So what kind of safety
02:23precautions can visitors take to avoid rip currents? Can you just talk to the lifeguard
02:28while they're on duty? Well, again, that goes back to swim in front of a lifeguard before you go.
02:35Know where that lifeguard is. Other things you can do is assign a water watcher in your family. Put
02:40the little ones in Coast Guard approved life jackets. There's a lot of things that you can do
02:44prepared. Be kind of like going out into the wilderness and you know there's wild animals
02:48out there. You want to take a weapon or bear spray and be on the lookout. So the idea of
02:54swimming in front of lifeguards is your best option. And you can talk to the lifeguards.
02:57They'll tell you not only where there are rip currents, but they'll pull you out of the water
03:01of their sharks and clear the beach if there's bad weather like lightning.