Kiwi beach-goers not likely to spot rip – study
A study has found up to 78 per cent of Kiwi beachgoers are unable to spot rip currents in surf, increasing the risk that they could get caught in one.
On average, five people drown in rip currents every year, and 700 need rescuing.
The study was conducted as part of a collaboration between Surf Life Saving New Zealand and beach safety experts at the universities of Canterbury, Auckland, Waikato and New South Wales, Sydney.
“What we observed was a dangerous and well-established rip current moving quickly offshore from the beach, and when we asked beachgoers to point it out to us, the vast majority were unable to do so,” University of Canterbury coastal geomorphologist Dr Seb Pitman said.
The study was done at Muriwai Beach, on Auckland’s west coast, which Pitman said was well known for its “energetic” surf conditions.
“Rip currents are like narrow rivers of water that start near the beach and flow offshore various distances beyond the breaking waves,” he added.
“They commonly occur in deeper channels that are cut between sandbars, which means waves don’t break as much in the rip current.
“This means that beachgoers often mistake them as the safest areas to swim because the water looks so calm when compared to the breaking waves either side.”
One of the study collaborators, Professor Rob Brander, from UNSW Sydney, believed that teaching people to understand and identify rip currents was extremely important, as many people continued to swim at non-lifeguarded beaches and outside patrol hours.
SLSNZ’s chief operations officer, Adam Wooler, agreed.
“Rip currents account for about 80 per cent of the rescues our lifeguards perform each year,” he said, adding that he believed many of those rescues were the result of people not knowing how to spot a rip.
The researchers also looked at whether people were better able to identify a rip current in a static photograph, as that was the main means of teaching about the danger, and that sort of image featured prominently on warning signs. The study found two-thirds of those who could see the rip in the photographs could not pick one out in real life.
“This finding is a real concern, and has implications for how we should educate people about rip currents,” Wooler said.
“It also reinforces that the best way to stay safe at the beach this summer is to choose a lifeguarded beach and swim between the flags.”