Rip Current Safety Checklist

A family's one-page guide to spotting, escaping, and surviving rip currents

WaterWiseKids.com — Free water safety education for families

Read it the night before and again on the sand — before anyone enters the surf.

🏖️ Before You Go

Check the rip current forecast — the National Weather Service Surf Zone Forecast rates rip risk as low, moderate, or high for most beaches. If it's high, keep young and weak swimmers out of the surf.
Choose a lifeguarded beach and swim near the stand — drowning risk at a lifeguarded beach is a tiny fraction of an unguarded one. Set up within sight of a tower.
Read the warning flags — green (low), yellow (moderate/caution), red (high hazard, no children in the water), double red (water closed). A red flag is not a suggestion.
Put weak and non-swimmers in a Coast Guard-approved life jacket — Type II or III, properly fitted. Water wings and puddle jumpers are NOT life jackets.
Teach every child "Float, don't fight" — say it out loud in the car. A rip takes you OUT, not down. If pulled, float, wave one arm, and yell.
Assign a Water Watcher — one adult, no phone, no alcohol, eyes on the kids, rotating every 15–30 minutes. Surf drowning is silent and fast.

A gap in the breaking waves — waves break on either side but not in the rip. A calm-looking lane through the surf is often a rip, not a safe spot.
A channel of churning, choppy water — a rougher stripe running straight out from the beach, perpendicular to shore.
A difference in water color — rips drag sand out, so the current often looks murkier, browner, or darker than the water beside it.
A line of foam, seaweed, or debris moving out to sea — watch the surface; a steady seaward line shows the current's path.
Use polarized sunglasses and a raised vantage point — rips are easier to see from a dune or lifeguard stand. When in doubt, ask the lifeguard.

Don't fight it — do not swim straight back to shore against the current. A rip moves faster than any swimmer; fighting it causes exhaustion.
Stay calm and float — roll onto your back, keep your head up, and conserve energy. A rip pulls you OUT along the surface, not under.
Swim parallel to shore — swim sideways along the beach until the pull releases. Rips are usually narrow — often 20–50 yards across.
Then angle in — when the current lets go, swim toward the beach at an angle away from the rip, riding the waves in.
Can't escape? Float and signal — keep floating, face the shore, wave one arm overhead, and call for help. Staying afloat and visible buys rescue time.

Don't swim out to them — untrained rescuers who go in often get caught in the same rip and drown. Resist the urge to enter the water.
Get a lifeguard or call 911 — alert the nearest lifeguard immediately; if none, call 911 and report a water rescue with your exact location.
Throw them something that floats — a boogie board, life jacket, cooler, inflatable, or rope gives flotation without putting you in the water.
Point and shout the escape — keep one arm pointed at them so rescuers can find them, and yell: "Float! Don't fight it! Swim sideways!"

A rip current pulls you out, not under. Knowing this one fact keeps you calm — and calm is what saves lives in the surf.
Rips drown strong swimmers too. The danger is panic and exhaustion, not swimming ability. Float and swim parallel — never fight the current.
Swim near a lifeguard. It is the single highest-impact choice you make all day. Would-be rescuers drown — get help, don't go in.