Although the waves weren’t that big and Pipe wasn’t firing, the odd large wave set came through that made things interesting – like creating a flash rip.

These rips have been in the same places for weeks. How do I know that? They have all eroded out embayments along the shoreline – another visual clue to help you spot rips.

Park Beach has had several tragic drownings over the years. It’s a dynamic surf beach that is also easily accessible and Coffs Harbour is a popular holiday destination – al of which can make for a dangerous combination.

It’s funny how you come across rip current photos. The other morning a colleague of mine at UNSW was checking out the surf by having a look at some surf cams while on the train to work and sent me this as a screenshot

In case you’re wondering, Mackenzies beach is long gone – and so is the rip. Who knows when it will appear again?

Flash rips don’t last long, perhaps just a minute or so, and are formed purely by random large waves breaking. The problem is, they are unpredictable and are hard to see from the shoreline.

The fact that there are no lifeguards makes it an extremely dangerous beach for a swim…but beautiful for sure. Hong Kong eh? Who would’ve thought?

Wow! This is one big massive rip current flowing out the southern end of Tamarama Beach in Sydney’s Eastern Suburbs.

Coalcliff is my local beach and some of the long-term locals have told me they haven’t seen this much sand in 50 years, which is remarkable. But as sand comes back to the beach quickly, rip current channels often form as well

It all begins with an idea.There’s lots of evidence to show that warning signs on beaches aren’t as effective as we’d like to think, but there also needs to be some thought put into where you actually put the signs so that people actually get the message.

Tourism Australia recently named Boomerang Beach on the NSW mid-north coast as the second best beach in Australia. It’s a great beach for sure and it’s popular in the summer for holiday makers. It’s also known for it’s big, strong rip currents, which is a problem.

One of the most common ways to try and teach people how to spot rip currents (like this website!) is by using pictures. Are pictures effective?