August 2021 (ROTM#152) McCauley’s Beach, Northern Illawarra, NSW, Australia

The thin green line. I love this picture. Most of the pictures I post on the Rip of the Month are channel rips, which sit in deeper channels between shallow sand bars, and appear as darker, narrower gaps between areas of whitewater.  There’s plenty of ways to spot channel rips, usually by looking down at the beach. But there aren’t always vantage points to look down at the beach from.

One way to spot the rips from beach level is to look along the beach. The thin, dark, green line is the rip…and there’s a few more further down the beach. This rip doesn’t look that wide, maybe 5-10 m, and it seems to be going straight out the back, probably about 30-40 m or so. Great for surfers looking for a free ride out the back, but not so great if you get caught in it and you aren’t a confident swimmer.  McCauley’s is a great beach backed by the stunning Illawarra Escarpment. It’s very popular as it’s a dog beach, and plenty of people swim, but there’s no lifeguards. Given how many rips and people there are, maybe there should be.

The thin green line.