Activity guides for the water and the edge of it: open water swimming, surf breaks graded by ability, sea kayak routes, coast path sections, snorkeling and rock pooling. Entries cover entry points, tide windows, typical conditions, wetsuit thickness and local hazards. For readers who visit the coast to get into it.
Rip currents kill roughly 100 people a year on US beaches, per NOAA — and the official guidance is to swim parallel to shore, not against the current, a fact worth knowing before it is needed.
The National Weather Service posts a rip current risk level for surf beaches every day, and the flags on the sand say something different again. Here is what each one means, and what NOAA and the National Park Service tell swimmers to do when the water pulls.