February 2010 (ROTM#14) Soldiers Beach, New South Wales, Australia

Back to Australia this month. It has been an awful summer for rip drownings. Last week two parents drowned in a rip trying to save their kids in Ballina, NSW and a few days ago a father did the same on the South Coast at Lake Conjola. Having said that, this summer is no less tragic for rip drownings than usual. It's just that these incidents are particularly emotional. Nothing changes. Every year someone drowns in a rip approximately every 3 days during the summer here. All on unpatrolled beaches, after patrol hours, or outside the red and yellow flags. I feel like I'm sounding like a broken record.

 So this is what the most common type of rip looks like in Australia....a dark gap between breaking waves. This may be an obvious example but spend 5-10 minutes watching the surf before going in for a swim...if you see dark persistent gaps, chances are it's a rip. The problem is...they look like the safest place to swim.

This image has been used on rip websites globally