[factsaresacred]

> I have had this feeling twice. Both times my overwhelming thought was "Wow, I've been an idiot."

Same experience here. I'm a beginner swimmer and got caught in a rip tide in Bali.

The thing was, it was terrifying yet so calm at the same time. Everybody on the beach continued to bathe, unaware, and a few metres away I was frantically but silently fighting for my life.

The helplessness is especially haunting. You exert this primal will to life, and the force of nature just brushes it aside.

Anyway, I made it out, spent that evening binging Youtube videos about rip tides, and have developed a healthy aversion to ocean water.

[flyinghamster]

Rip currents aren't just a hazard on the ocean, for that matter. Seiches on Lake Michigan can produce both rip currents and rogue waves, and people have been killed by them.

[bamboozled]

At a beach near my place, 3 young athletic men went swimming after soccer training at a fairly elite level. Got stuck in a tidal rip on a fairly calm day. 2 died. Hard to believe.