July 2013 (ROTM#55) Park Beach, Coffs Harbour, NSW, Australia

Yep, this is the same beach as the ROTM from May, but this rip is just south of the tidal inlet at the south end of the beach.  I took it from the plane while coming in for landing at Coffs Harbour airport and it's a beaut. You can see the 'twin' feeder current channels merging into the main part of the rip - the rip-neck channel, which pushes out about 10-20 m past the line of breaking waves. This is pretty much a classic rip current that we find on the east coast of Australia and there's lots of them.

I was in Coffs to work with the Australian Professional Ocean Lifeguard Association (APOLA) who have got funding to develop a beach safety pamphlet for backpackers (in 10 languages). When I showed this picture to them, they told me that there's a nearby backpacker hostel...and the backpackers all walk straight to this unpatrolled section of beach and go swimming straight in the rip! The tidal inlet is interesting as well. Flow during an ebbing tide creates a pretty strong rip as well - a tidal rip; and it pays to stay away as these can flow considerable distances offshore.

Always get a window seat when you fly