March 2021 (ROTM#147) McCauley's Beach, Northern Illawarra, NSW, Australia

The 'La Nina' summer on the east coast of NSW is now officially over and it wasn't much of a summer weather-wise, which is perhaps fortunate from a drowning perspective as it seemed like all of our beaches were characterised by multitudes of rip currents.

McCauley's Beach is just north of Wollongong in NSW. It's an unusual unpatrolled beach in this area and has become increasingly popular as a dog friendly beach. In recent years, it seems like unpatrolled dog beaches around here have become some of the busiest beaches around, which raises the question - should there be lifeguards? That would be good for swimmers, but not so good for dogs I suspect. 

There are rips all the way along McCauley's, but I took this picture at the south end to show a boundary rip heading offshore against the reef - it's the thin dark green gap. It was pretty strong considering the waves weren't too big. My kids were doing surfing lessons and the instructors (shameless plug because they are great - Fiona and Peter from Essential Surf & Skate Helensburgh) had them paddle out in the rip which re-circulated them around to the left onto the sandbank in a perfect position to catch waves. That's such a great educational tool for kids to experience and use a rip under supervision.

Boundary rips are often permanent rips as they deflect water moving along the beach offshore. It's NEVER a good idea to swim next to reefs and headlands on a surf beach.

The boundary rip express.