August 2018 (ROTM#116) Playa Hermosa, Costa Rica

What factors impact your choice of decision about where to swim when you go the beach? For many of us, it's the presence of lifeguards or (in the case of Australia) the red and yellow flags. But there are many, many, many beaches and stretches of beach with no lifeguards that are easy to access and look so inviting for a swim. So do you go in or not? 

 Professor Chris Houser is a a colleague of mine and the Dean of Science at the University of Windsor in Ontario, Canada. He's started thinking about the rip current risk and rip current education in a different way by thinking about the psychology of rip currents. These pictures he took during a student field trip to Playa Hermosa in Costa Rica illustrate this. Both pictures show a rip current (dark) gap. The only difference is that there's no-one around in the picture on the left, whereas there's people in the water and on the beach in the picture on the right?

Hmmm....which scenario would you be more likely to enter the water in? 'Herd mentality' is a big deal, which is why even experienced ocean swimmers should think twice about swimming away from lifeguards and near rips (to avoid the crowds) because you never know who might see you and follow your lead.

Comfort in numbers can be a dangerous thing when it comes to rips