Surfing Waves

even though i've only been caught in a rip twice, since the first time its always been in the back of my mind, i was just wondering if there is any ways of working against them? if so i was wondering how? thanks

paddle parallel to the beach til youre out of it.

Enjoy the ride, wait til you're out back, paddle parallel to the beach (usually), surf back in again, repeat...

if you know what to do rip are your best friend, and most beaches with rocks at one side, saunton for example, when the swell gets big a rip will form there, you just have to paddle out at the right place or you go out to sea, if theres a helpfull rip i will almost always use it.

if your not a confitend paddeler, paddle diagonaly , but if you can paddle parrelel, i think its that way round

i rememba i got caught in a rip at croyed and i ended up going in circles for about 20 mins

you can paddle diagonnaly if its not too strong and you will probably get out of it, make sure you are not to far from the end of the rip.

Never ever ever work 'against' a rip, unless your fit & strong the rip will win (typicaly).


Understand what a rip is & how to use them.

They Usualy move in a circular motion out of one section , into another, caused by channels on the shore bed.

So either ride them out & let em bring tyou back to the break or go across them.

Never try to paddle against them. Even the strongest swimmers will struggle to make head way.
If caught unexpedtedly, stop take stock of where it's taking you, probably out to sea. Then to get out of it the chances are you will have to paddle with it and across it and you will get out of it quickly, even if it means going further out to sea. Then once your out of it you can look for a safer place to return to the beach away from the rip.

KS

thanks for replies, most of the time the rip is coming accross the beach, towards rocks, and if you get taken over the the rocks, the wave directions pushing you back into the rocks then

Ooh, cross shore rip - even more fun

The rip may well be less a bit further out, so make sure you're sitting outback rather than in the impact zone or whitewater. But you'll still have to keep correcting your positioning (which is fleshin' knackering)

But if the cross-shore rip is that regular that its causing you problems, I'd simply surf somewhere else...

lol its hard to paddle against it, but its only a couple of times a year i think, but when there is one, its hard to surf in

I often get a massive cross shore rip where i surf.. best way is to use it to your advantage, or to cheat.

I look for where I want to be in relation to the breaking waves I intend to catch, then enter the water "up-stream" so the rip carries me along the beach and right to where i want to be. All I need to do is just paddle straight out, and the rip carries me diagonally toward the break.

To "cheat" I do as above, but after a ride, instead of paddling back out, I ride all the way into the shore, walk up the beach to where I entered before and just repeat my paddle out.

Oh yeh, and cross shore rips usually occur just inside the peak where you want to be, so it should suck you out back if you avoid the rocks.

I've always been nervous about rip, I think it's the reason I don't try to get out back because i'm always worried about where the rip could take me. But I just wanted to know if there are any visible signs of where the rip is going or do you only feel it when you are paddling out?

Rips are usually fairly visible in that the water surface will be rippled and to some extent look like a flowing river whereas the rest of the water will be smooth. Also waves tend to break less in the areas where the rips are.
Look at the break and look at how the waves and water are moving into the break and you should be able to spot the rips that take the water back out. Not quite so easy on big sandy beaches but on some breaks thet'e very obvious.

KS

Look at the photo here out of shot to the right is a big bay area and the rip is running arcoss the bottom of the photo from left to right. The waves pushing in are forcing the water back out into the bay acrosss the shore line. As you enter the water you're immediately dragged out to sea into the bay that is out of shot. You paddle with the rip and from right to left until you leave it behind then head off over to the breaking waves. Dry hair paddle out. But you should be wary of rips if you are not confident in your own abilities as they can tale you out to sea very quickly and it can be unerving if you are not expecting it and easy to try and paddle back to shore through it which might not be possible and you will tire very quickly.

KS

Ta KS, thanks for the help!

ive paddle directly in when I have been in rips but if I didnt have a board id be screwed. I was amazed at how hard you have to paddle just to get in a little bit. Of course if it was a dire situation i would paddle sidways out of it. Its always funny to be sitting in the lineup and then notice you and a bunch of other guys have floated way out past everyone else.

How far can rips take you out? Surely the surge of water back out has to stop somewhere!

I Just got back from a weekend at saunton devon with the son (aged 12) we have been surfing together for 2 years now and have been to most of the beaches in the area. we always check out where the rips are and local knoweldge before getting in, however on saturday my son charlie got a little bit to close to the rip that flanks the rocks which most of sauntons experienced surfers us as a conveyor belt to get out the back. within 10 seconds charlie had been dragged 20 FT beyond my reach and was on his way out (caught in the rip) as you can guess it was time for me to experience my first rip and for both of us this was the most frightening surfing experience we have ever had, ( i thought we were never getting back), thanks to local in sea coaching from another surfer who was on the rocks we mananged to make it back. My thanks go to him and my advice to anyone reading this post never get near a rip unless your with someone that knows what there doing. For the record one of my local mates is going to take me back to saunton and take me into the rip so i can learn how to get out properly and safely.

Tenaciousgreen wrote:How far can rips take you out? Surely the surge of water back out has to stop somewhere!

In general they usually start to disipate right outside the breaking waves. The bigger the waves the stronger the rip. I imagine a strong rip could take you quite a bit further out if you're just sitting there.

Driftingalong wrote:

Tenaciousgreen wrote:How far can rips take you out? Surely the surge of water back out has to stop somewhere!

In general they usually start to disipate right outside the breaking waves. quote]

this depends on the break really, take crantock for example a local break near me its a small bay and you have out going water from an esturay as well as the water from the waves this can cause a rip runing right down the end of the beach taking you right out passed the headland, as my friend kate found out the other week when we jumped in off the rocks and she got pulled out in the rip.