HOW TO SPOT A RIP CURRENT:
IT'S WHERE THE WATER LOOKS EASIEST AND SAFEST, with no waves breaking or rolling in.
NEVER ENTER THE SEA HERE.
If you get caught in a rip, DON'T FIGHT IT. You can't swim back to shore against it; you will become exhausted and drown.
Instead, SWIM ACROSS IT, parallel to shore. You'll soon be out of the current and can then easily swim back.
Boost, please, and make sure your friends and family know this when they hit the beach.
In the early 1940s, my late mother was a kid from the German heavy industry Ruhr area. Her entire school fled from the allied bombing attacks (bombing of civilian targets was ugly custom in WW II) to the Baltic Sea coast. One beach day, several members of her class were caught in a strong current. Mom made it to shore by herself, but the teachers had to get in and rescue pupils that had drifted very far away. This was one of the terrifying stories mom occasionally told.
Marcus Marcius Marcellus
Andreas, DJ3EI, he/him