July 2019 (ROTM#127) Maroubra Beach, Sydney, NSW, Australia

Maroubra Beach is one of the three long beaches in Sydney's Eastern Suburbs (the other two are Bondi and Coogee), but is also one of the most dangerous. It's a fantastic beach with great surf, but with surf comes rips and Maroubra has had it's share of drownings over the years despite the excellent efforts of the Randwick City Council Lifeguards and the volunteer surf lifesavers.

 I took this picture from the back of the beach on top of the concrete esplanade. Just that little bit of elevation can make a huge difference when spotting rips. The channelised rip is the dark area of water right in the middle of the picture. The fastest flowing part of the rip is also the narrowest section, which is called the rip-neck, and you can see the rip-neck heading offshore through a narrow gap in the sandbar. This one appears to be heading out at an angle, which is something important to remember if you get stuck in one. Not all rips go straight offshore! The beach was patrolled on this day, but the red and yellow flags were situated well away from the rip and therefore out of the picture.

Rips can be so subtle.