October 2012 (ROTM#46) Whale Beach, NSW, Australia

Sydney's Northern Beaches are off the tourist track, but are a real gem full of stunning little beaches like Bungan, Bilgola, Avalon and Whale Beach. All of them have good surf, with plenty of sandbars and, of course, rip currents. We did a recon of the beaches last week to look for a suitable location for some experiments on rip currents we're hoping to do in early October and Whale Beach came up trumps with this fantastic channelised fixed rip carving through the middle of the beach.

On the day we were there, there was a surf competition for kids (grommets) and they were using the rip as an express train to get out the back. So check out the Northern Beaches, you won't be disappointed, but be careful, there's plenty of rips around and it's definitely lifestyles of the rich and famous territory!

One great big rip in the middle