January 2019 (ROTM#121) Shellharbour South Beach, NSW Australia

Welcome to the 10 Year Anniversary Rip of the Month! That makes it 120 pictures of rip currents (and some videos) on this page….I think it could be a world record! Can you spot the rip current in this picture? It’s the narrow gap of darker water heading offshore just beyond the rocks and where the person is sitting. Given it’s flowing out adjacent to the rocks, this would be what we call a ‘Boundary’ rip current. Almost all structures, headlands and rocks will have some sort of rip current activity next to them so it’s a good reason to avoid swimming next to them.

 This is quite an interesting beach. Shellharbour is south of Wollongong, NSW and what you can’t see is an old wharf at Bass Point, which is about a kilometre behind where I took this picture. Over the years, gravel being transported along the wharf fell off, creating some unique gravel beaches, hence the colour and sediment composition of this beach. The breakwalls in the background are also interesting as they are new, having been built as part of a new marina complex to be opened in the future. I wouldn’t be swimming next to them either due to boundary rip currents.

A rare mixed sand and gravel beach in Australia. Still has rips though.