January 2021 (ROTM#145) Stanwell Park, NSW, Australia

This is the 12th anniversary of the Rip of the Month feature. That's 145 rip current pictures if you're counting, which must represent the largest single collection of rip current pictures in the world! I really hope it's helped some people learn a little bit more about how to spot rips.

The year 2020 has finally ended and while I was expecting a terrible drowning toll on Australian beaches this summer, due to large COVID related crowds, this hasn't happened. That's mostly due to the dismal weather related to the La Nina climate event on the East Coast has kept the crowds at bay. That was true of this picture taken at one of my local beaches on New Years's Day. There's hardly anyone around, but there was a very strong, but also very narrow, channel rip pumping.

The furthest person along the beach in the photograph is a fisherman and opposite them is a narrow dark green 'line' heading offshore between the whitewater. You can see the 'green line' just above the other people in the photo. Although you can't see it in this photo, there was a lot of seaweed in the water and the rip was carrying big clumps of it offshore - another thing to look for when trying to spot rips!

Like a rip in the surf.