Rip Current Statistics

Evidence has shown that swimming and wading continues to be the activity that many people are undertaking when they drown. On average over the last 5 years, this was the case for 41% (174) of coastal drowning deaths.¹
85 (49%)² have been confirmed to have been rip current related though it is expected that this proportion is closer to 89%³.
26% occurred between the hours of 6pm and 7am⁴ and 67% occurred outside of patrol season and regular hours⁵ demonstrating that a significant number are in fact occurring outside of times where there is direct supervision.
Recent survey results have shown that 93% of people swim between the red and yellow flags ‘most of the time’ and at 73% claim the do so ‘all of the time’⁶. This is in line with the same survey conducted in 2004 which showed almost identical results.
Further, the Science of the Surf study conducted by the UNSW in 2007 found that 96% of respondents know that the ‘safest’ place to swim is between the red and yellow flags and 40% admitted they don’t⁷.

Source of statistics

Evidence collected by the ‘Science of the Surf’ project (2007) run in conjunction with the UNSW showed some interesting findings.

Out of 375 respondants:

20%	did not know what a rip current looked like
80%	thought they could spot a rip current, but only 40% could actually do so
50%	of people pointed at the rip current as the safest place to swim!

Case Study

As further testament to this estimate, rip currents cause approximately 100 deaths annually in the United States, more than all other natural hazards except heat and floods. Over 80% of rescues by surf beach lifeguards are due to rip currents totaling 18,000 lifeguard rescues a year.

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