August has gotten off to a perilous start along the Jersey Shore, with rip currents and beach rescues on the rise. Watch video
Trips to the beach are supposed to be fun. But sometimes the fun can spiral into a heart-pounding battle against a powerful force of nature.
The culprit: Strong rip currents, those narrow -- and fast-moving -- ocean currents that push swimmers away from the shoreline and into a dangerous struggle to stay afloat. Experts say rip currents are tough to spot and difficult to evade, even for good swimmers, who can easily get exhausted when fighting their way into calmer waters and ultimately back to shore.
During the past week, there has been a noticeable uptick in strong rip currents and swimmers in distress along the Jersey Shore, according to lifeguards and other beach workers. Among the recent incidents:
* Lifeguards in Atlantic City were involved in 60 water rescues last Wednesday and Thursday, CBS-3 in Philadelphia reported.
* Lifeguards in North Wildwood made a dozen rescues on Saturday and temporarily banned swimming at the beach on 10th Avenue because the ocean got so rough, said North Wildwood Beach Patrol Chief Tony Cavalier.
* Lifeguards in Sea Girt reported multiple rescues and assisted many struggling swimmers during the first five days of August, said Jim Freda, the borough's beach manager. On each of those days, yellow flags were posted, designating specific areas where swimmers could only go waist deep in the water and boogie boarders were allowed in only with fins.
2 men help save drowning teens
The situation has been more dire when lifeguards are off-duty.
In Wildwood Sunday evening, a Maryland man was hospitalized and later died when he tried to rescue his nephew from a strong rip current. That incident happened just one day after rescue workers saved six people struggling in the ocean in neighboring North Wildwood just after 8 p.m. Some of those people had gone into the water to help two swimmers in distress.
Back in June, a day of celebration turned tragic when a 24-year-old woman from New York who was visiting Long Beach Township on Long Beach Island for a wedding got caught in an apparent rip current and later died, police said. Just two weeks earlier, a 55-year-old man vacationing on Long Beach Island died while rescuing three teens who were reportedly caught in a strong riptide.
The United States Lifesaving Association, a non-profit organization of beach lifeguards and water rescue workers, says more than 100 people across the United States die each year from rip currents, and the vast majority of water rescues by lifeguards involve rip currents.
During the 20-year period from 1996 to 2015, there were 32 deaths in New Jersey attributed to rip currents, according to statistics from the National Weather Service. That makes rip currents third on the list of the most common types of weather-related deaths in the Garden State, behind only extreme heat and wind.
But rip currents are the number one type of weather-related fatalities in the four coastal counties: Monmouth, Ocean, Atlantic and Cape May.
Follow the rules
Cavalier, who has been working in North Wildwood for more than 40 years, said tragedy can be avoided if beach-goers pay attention to two important rules: Go swimming only when lifeguards are on duty, and listen to the lifeguards' warnings.
The beach patrol chief said his lifeguards are trained to look out for rip currents and when they spot them -- usually they'll see pockets of choppy, discolored water swirling around like a washing machine -- they move into action.
"One guard from each chair will go out into the water and move people away from them," Cavalier said. Sometimes the lifeguards won't allow beach-goers to go into water deeper than their waists, and if the rip currents get really bad they order everyone out of the ocean.
If you do end up getting caught in strong rip currents, experts say you should remain as calm as possible and wave for help. They also say you should try to swim parallel to the rip currents until you get out of their grip. (Additional tips can be found in the two videos in this post.)
Len Melisurgo may be reached at LMelisurgo@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @LensReality or like him on Facebook. Find NJ.com on Facebook.