September 2016 (ROTM#93) Stanwell Park, NSW, Australia

I have to admit, it's getting harder to find my own pictures of rip currents from different beaches so I have to rely on my closest beach....so please send me pictures of rips if you can! I'm not too bothered though as this picture could be any beach around the world that has rips to be honest. They often look the same. I took this on  Father's Day here in Oz (Sept 1) and the weather was beautiful so people went to the beach and even started venturing in for a swim (we just came out of winter!). The problem is, there's no red and yellow flags or lifeguards yet, so if you wanted to go for a swim where I've taken this picture, where would you go in?

 It's a pretty important question because if you swam in the narrow zone of darker water in the middle of the picture that looks like a path heading offshore, that was an express train of a rip that all the surfers were using to get out the back. If you'd swum in the whitewater near the right hand side of the photo, you would have been fine. I took this picture standing on the sand dune behind the beach. Once again, a little bit of elevation helps to spot rips and you should always watch the water for several minutes and try to spot rips before jumping in. Always.

It’s like someone made a ‘rip’ through the surf