Rip currents are the greatest beach hazard

Amid news reports of lives lost at New York City beaches, the greatest tragedy is how easily some could be avoided, if more people understood beach safety and surf hazards.
By far, the greatest beach hazard is rip current, often mistakenly called “riptide” or “undertow.” According to the U.S. Lifesaving Association, at least 100 Americans drown in rip currents every year, more than die in tornadoes, earthquakes or hurricanes. In fact, 80 percent of all lifeguard rescues are because people are caught in rip currents.
What people need to know, according to authorities is how easy it is to escape these flows.
First of all, there’s no such thing as “undertow.” The water doesn’t pull you under - it pulls you away from shore. Also, tides have little to do with rip currents, which can happen whenever there are waves, even in the Great Lakes.
Lifeguards and experienced surfers sometimes utilize rip currents to get out past the “break line” of the waves, according to authorities.
Rip currents happen when wind and wave action “piles up” water close to the shore. At some spot, where the beach bottom creates an easier path for the water to flow back out, a narrow, rapid current is formed. This is the “rip current.”
In almost every case, these currents are no wider than a narrow side street (from 10 to 30 feet wide), and although they flow very fast, they don’t go very far, usually just past where the waves start to break (100 to 300 feet from shore), according to authorities.
Most inexperienced beachgoers who find themselves in a rip current have no idea that a few feet to the left or right, the ocean flow is normal, and wave action would bring them closer to shore. They try to swim against the current and fail; many panic as they are swept further away from shore. Some drown.
Rip currents often form alongside structures like jetties, which is exactly where inexperienced bathers think they are “protected.” While it is often hard to tell where a rip current is happening, they can often be observed as a dark stripe between two areas of surf, or what looks like a cloudy channel going out to sea (from churned up sand.)
The easiest way to avoid rip currents is to ask a lifeguard if there are any rips - if you aren’t a good swimmer, you should stay closer to the lifeguards.
If there isn’t a lifeguard on duty, it’s both illegal and dangerous (and downright stupid) to go into the ocean. Rip currents can go faster than the fastest Olympic swimmer and can sweep you off your feet if you are standing in water only up to your knees.
Remember:
Ask the lifeguard about rip currents - no lifeguard, no wading.
Stay calm. Panic-caused fatigue kills more swimmers than anything else.
You can’t out-swim a rip current but you can swim out of one - swim along the beach to get out of the current.