Rip Currents: How to Spot One and Escape Safely

A rip current is the most common hazard at any surf beach, and it is behind the large majority of lifeguard rescues at West Coast surf beaches. It often looks like the calmest water in sight, which is exactly why it catches people. Once you understand how a rip current forms, what it looks like from the sand and how to get out of one, you are far safer every time you go in.

This guide follows current messaging from the U.S. Lifesaving Association (USLA) and NOAA's National Weather Service (NWS), plus the advice Southern California lifeguard agencies give the public.

A 2019 peer-reviewed study of 20 years of rescue reports sent to USLA found rip currents were the primary cause of about 82% of surf beach rescues nationally, and nearly 85% on the West Coast. For more numbers like these, see our breakdown of drowning and lifeguard statistics.

What is a rip current?

A rip current is a narrow, channeled flow of water moving away from shore at a surf beach. It usually starts near the waterline, runs through the surf zone and continues past the breaking waves. Some fade just outside the breakers. Others keep flowing hundreds of yards offshore.

Most rips move at 1 to 2 feet per second. USLA notes they have been measured as fast as 8 feet per second, faster than an Olympic swimmer. Width varies just as much, from very narrow to more than 50 yards across, and speed can change from one minute to the next.

What causes rip currents?

Every breaking wave pushes water up the beach. That water has to get back out to sea, and it takes the path of least resistance. Where the bottom is uneven, the return flow squeezes into a fast, narrow stream. That stream is the rip.

The NWS describes three parts. Feeder currents run along the beach toward the rip, and the head is where the flow spreads out and weakens, usually beyond the breakers. In between is the neck, the narrow, fast section that carries swimmers away from shore and where most people first realize they are in trouble.

Rips at gaps in sandbars

The classic rip forms at a low spot or break in a sandbar. Waves break over the shallow bar on either side, and the deeper channel between them becomes the exit route for all that water. Because the channel is deeper, waves often don't break there, so it can look like the easiest place to swim.

Rips next to piers, jetties and rocks

Structures that reach out from the beach also create rips. Water moving along the shore runs into a pier, jetty, groin or rocky point and has nowhere to go but out, right alongside the structure. The NWS warns these currents can be concentrated and very strong. The advice is simple: stay well clear of structures in the water.

How do tides and swell affect rip currents?

Rip currents are driven by waves, not tides, but the NWS notes their strength can change with the tide level. NOAA adds that rips are often enhanced in the hours around low tide, though they can form at any point in the tidal cycle. Our guide to how tides work shows how to read a local tide table.

Swell matters too. NOAA and USLA note that rip strength tends to increase as wave height and wave period increase. A storm far offshore can send powerful swell to a beach with perfect weather, and the NWS points out that some of the worst rip current days happen exactly that way. For how longer-term ocean patterns shape SoCal surf from year to year, see our El Niño explainer.

Before you go, check the NWS surf zone forecast, which rates rip current risk as low, moderate or high. Even a low rating carries a warning that life-threatening rips often occur near piers, jetties and reefs.

What does a rip current look like?

Learning how to spot a rip current takes a little practice, because rips can be subtle. NOAA is clear that one, all or none of the warning signs may be visible at a given moment. Look for:

• A gap of darker, calmer-looking water between areas of breaking waves and whitewater
• A channel of churning, choppy water that looks different from the water beside it
• A patch of different-colored water, often murky or sandy from sediment being carried out
• A line of foam, seaweed or debris moving steadily away from shore
• A break in the pattern of incoming waves

Get up high if you can. The NWS notes that rips are easier to see from an elevated spot, like a bluff, a stairway or the top of the sand, than from the water's edge. Spend a few minutes watching before you pick your spot, and if you're unsure, ask the lifeguard on duty.

How to escape a rip current

Most swimmers who get into trouble in a rip try to swim straight back to the beach against it. The NWS compares a rip to a treadmill you can't turn off: you swim hard, go nowhere, tire out and panic. USLA's current guidance is:

1. Relax. A rip current pulls you away from shore, not under the water. Staying calm saves energy.
2. Don't swim against the current. Fighting it straight toward the beach is what wears people out.
3. Swim out of it, following the shoreline. Swim parallel to the beach, or toward the breaking waves on either side, then angle back toward shore once the pull eases.
4. Float or tread water if you can't swim out. Some rips circulate back toward shore, and rip current strength eventually fades offshore.
5. Signal for help. If you don't think you can make it in, face the shore, wave your arms and yell.

Los Angeles County lifeguards add one rule for surfers and bodyboarders: stay on your board. It floats, and it makes you easier to see.

How do you help someone caught in a rip current?

This is the most dangerous moment at the beach for bystanders. Many people have died trying to rescue rip current victims. NWS training materials estimate that about a quarter of rip current deaths are people who went in to help without training or equipment. A panicked swimmer can push a rescuer under, and sometimes the would-be rescuer drowns while the original swimmer makes it out.

If you see someone caught in a rip:

• Get a lifeguard. If there isn't one, call 911 right away, or have someone call while you keep your eyes on the swimmer.
• Throw something that floats. A life jacket, bodyboard, cooler or ball can keep them up until help arrives.
• Coach from shore. Yell for them to swim along the beach, not toward it.
• Don't go in without flotation. If you feel you must enter the water, bring a flotation device, keep it between you and the person, and be ready to back away.

Keeping flotation between you and the swimmer is how professional lifeguards protect themselves, and it is why they swim out with a rescue tube or rescue can. Read more about what lifeguards carry and why each piece matters.

Do rip currents pull you under? Common myths

Myth: Rip currents drag you underwater. They don't. A rip moves you away from the beach along the surface. People go under when they are too tired to keep swimming or floating.

Myth: Undertow and riptides are the same thing as a rip current. The NWS and USLA treat "undertow" and "riptide" as incorrect names for rip currents. What people usually call undertow is backwash, the water sliding back down the sand after a wave runs up. NOAA notes it usually isn't very powerful, unlike a rip that can run far offshore. A true rip tide is a tidal current moving through an inlet or harbor mouth, which is a different hazard.

Myth: Calm, sunny days are safe. Distant storms create swell, so nice weather at the beach tells you very little about the surf.

Myth: Strong swimmers don't need to worry. USLA notes rips can sweep even the strongest swimmer away from shore. Swimming skill helps you stay calm and float, but nobody out-swims a current moving 8 feet per second.

Rip currents in Southern California

Rips are a year-round feature of SoCal beaches, from Ventura and Malibu through Santa Monica and the South Bay down to Huntington and Newport. Los Angeles County lifeguards call them a leading hazard to beachgoers and note that the bigger the waves, the bigger the rips.

A few local patterns are worth knowing:

• Piers and jetties create rips. Santa Monica, Manhattan Beach, Hermosa, Redondo, Huntington and Newport all have piers or breakwaters nearby. Give them plenty of room, and stay off the rocks. NWS beach hazard statements for LA and Ventura County beaches warn that rock jetties can be deadly in big surf.
• South swells hit south-facing beaches hardest. When a south swell is running, NWS Los Angeles surf forecasts often flag south-facing beaches for the biggest surf.
• Lifeguards mark the safer zone. At LA County beaches, orange flags near an open tower mark the swimming and bodyboarding area. Guards place them in the safest spot, away from rips and inshore holes.
• Check the right forecast. The NWS Los Angeles/Oxnard office covers Ventura and LA County beaches. Orange County beaches fall under the NWS San Diego office.

For a full pre-swim routine covering surf, wind, water temperature, flags and water quality, read our guide to reading ocean conditions.

The simplest rip current rule: swim near a lifeguard

No tip in this article beats swimming in front of an open lifeguard tower. USLA calculates the chance of drowning at a beach protected by its affiliated lifeguards at about 1 in 18 million, based on 10 years of agency reports.

If you're hosting a private beach gathering or a party where the public towers won't be focused on your group, a dedicated guard keeps eyes on your guests the whole time. Red Can Lifeguards works events across the Westside, Malibu, the South Bay, Orange County and Ventura County. You can book a lifeguard or get an instant estimate on our pricing page.