How beachgoers can stay safe from rip currents this summer

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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.

Transcript

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.

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