Rips? how powerful are they?

[TReMoR]

Ok so I just learnt that a 17 year old from my city just drowned at the place i surf at the most
He was knocked down by a wave and he wasnt found until 20 min later at the end of the pier.
It kinda freaked me out thinking.. what if i lose my board and i get dragged away by a rip/ undercurrent or what ever.
Im guessing that some kind of undercurrent was the cause of him not resurfacing and being found at the end of the pier.. so.. what would you recommend if you were being sucked out..
Well first of all... What exactly do you guys think happened? think there is a way out? or is it just bad luck? Im sure if he was knocked out by the blow then yea, i can see it happening, but do you think he was concious when he drowned?

Maybe im just making myself more nervous :/

[kitesurfer]

First and foremost is don't swim against the rip and don't panic. Take stock of your situation and look which way you are going, then swim with and across the rip. They are never usually very wide. Quite often you will have to swim away from the beach first to get back in.

KS

[RJD]

Rips can easily be too strong to swim or paddle against.

As kitey says, think before you panic and dont fight it

[twerked]

rips pull out, not down. i'm assuming the guy got knocked out cold when the wave hit him. really sad. a guy just drowned down here a week or two back in a rip current.

if you're out surfing, you have a big floaty thing. so if you do get pulled out stay calm, you're not going to sink all of a sudden. just swim parallel to the beach, then in. i usually use rips though to get out, it's like a ski lift.

always remember though, if you're out surfing and you see someone in a rip struggling, be cautious going to save them; especially without a board. with a board, i guess it's not such a big deal because there's a lot for the person to grab onto to float, but if you're just out there on your own, and you don't have any flotation, most times the people will panic and grab you, and then make it a 2 person rescue

[isaluteyou]

if you are on a flotation device like a surfboard thre is zero reason to panic. In the worst rip i ever experienced i just sat on y board a let it take me then paddled out of it (parralel) when i felt like it. You wont go out to the depths of the ocean. I see a lot of guys on rentals paddle themselves to exaustion on a rip, its criminal that sum rental shops dont at least give a few words of advice before giving a board to someone who is ignorant of the ocean.

The guy who drowned sounds like he was held under too long by a wave and ran outa air then floated to the surface and got caught in currents and bobbed wherever it took him. Sad indeed.

[uglystick]

number one rule, if you dont think you could swim in on certain days from out the back due to different conditions, dont take the chance. You need to have the confidece that if your leggie snaps you will have the fitness and water knowledge to swim in.