Rip current on beach dive

[MoonWrasse]

Never try swimming against a rip current. You'll just die trying.
You swim across it. This should've been covered in the OW class, however beach rip currents aren't known everywhere. In SF Ocean beach is known for having innocent looking yet deadly rip currents along the 4+ mile sandy beach. From what I've noticed, the waders seem to prefer the likeliest spots for a rip as well. Go figure.

 

[discrepancy]

The main do's and don'ts of shore diving in currents are pretty much covered in the earlier posts. All good advice.

- Ask an expert. The local surfers always know how the beach or headland is behaving, and they love to tell you about their beach. Sometimes they want to tell you so much it's hard to break off the conversation politely.
- Don't commit to the entry until you've got your reg in and fins on, and you're ready to rock and roll.
- If there are currents around, make sure you jump in with your buddy. You do want to dive in the same ocean, don't you?
- Currents on the bottom can be different to what you get on the surface. Sometimes you can master a current by hugging the bottom.
- Even a vicious rip will only take you out to sea for a few hundred yards, then it stops and leaves you there. As long as you don't try to swim back directly against it, it can be a fantastic free ride to your dive site.
- Exits in heavy seas can be exciting. The trick is to relax, keep your reg in, dive all the way out of the water, make like a piece of driftwood and enjoy the ride. People at Disney Land pay good money for thrills like that.
- Don't take your eye off the ocean even when you're high and dry after the dive.