A-frame

Aaberg, Denny

Aaberg, Kemp

Abberton, Koby

Abbruzzi, Sid

Abellira, Reno

Abubo, Megan

academia and surfing

Adler, Tom

advertising and surfing

Aeder, Erik

aerial

Aguerre, Fernando

Aichner, Scott

Aikau, Clyde

Aikau, Eddie

Aipa, Ben

air-drop

airbrush

Airshow

Ala Moana

Alabama

alaia board

Alaska

alcohol and surfing

Alexander, Kala

Allen, Chuck

Alms, Paige

aloha shirt

Alter, Hobie

Alvarez, Pepe

Ancell, Kevin

Andaman Islands

Andersen, Lisa

Anderson, Craig

Anderson, Simon

Andino, Kolohe

Angel, Jose

angle

Angola

Angourie

Antarctica

Apocalypse Now

Arabian Sea

Aragon, Janice

Arakawa, Eric

Archbold, Matt

Arena, Eduardo

Ashton, Juan

Association of Surfing Professionals (ASP)

Atlantic Ocean

August, Robert

Aurness, Rolf

Auster, Ken

Australia

Avalon, Frankie

Azores

backdoor

backside

backside attack, Pipeline

backwash

bail out

Bain, Rob

Baja California

Baker, Bernie

Baker, Grant “Twiggy”

Baker, Tim

Bali

Ball, John “Doc”

Ballard, Bill

Ballard, Rochelle

balsa

Baltic Sea

Banks, Jim

Barbados

Barilotti, Steve

Barland, Michel

Barreda, Sergio “Gordo”

Barry, Michael

Bartholomew, Wayne

Baxter, Jackie

Bay of Bengal

Beach Boys, The

Beacham, Debbie

beachboys

beachbreak

Beachcomber Bills Grand Prix

Beachley, Layne

beavertail

Becker, Phil

Bedford-Brown, Stuart

Belgium

Bells Beach

Bendall, Ma and Pa

Bennett, Barry

Benson, Becky

Benson, Linda

Bermuda

Bertlemann, Larry

Beschen, Shane

A current flowing from nearshore waters back toward the open sea, gentle in some cases, violent in others. While riptides can contribute directly to good waves, they are frequently dangerous to swimmers and novice surfers. "Riptide" is something of a misnomer, as it's influenced but not caused by tide. A riptide is also known as rip current, or run-out, or (another misnomer) undertow.

Riptides are generally formed when waves break consistently over a shallow sandbar or reef, and the incoming lines of whitewater, unable to return seaward by the same route, instead briefly traverse the shore, then turn 90 degrees, almost always into a topographical low spot. Rips have been timed up to eight feet per second. Riptides adjacent to reefbreaks (like Hawaii's Sunset Beach) flow along permanent channels; riptides at beachbreaks will sometimes form temporary channels—which in turn can produce first-rate surf. Rips next to piers and jetties can also give a surfer a speeded-up route back to the lineup.

Riptides are usually about 30 to 50 yards wide, are more common during lower tides, and tend to dissipate not far beyond the surf zone. Because they produce chops and eddies as they flow outward, riptides are fairly easy to spot. Nonetheless, a majority of beachside lifeguard rescues worldwide—about 80%—are made when swimmers, and sometimes beginning surfers, wander into a riptide and are pulled out to sea. As the Los Angeles Times reported in 2005, riptides "kill more people each year than hurricanes, tornadoes, floods, or sharks." The paper went on to note that an average of 100 people in the US die each year in rips.

A "flash rip" occurs after a set of bigger-than-average waves suddenly creates strong but temporary current back toward the open ocean. If the beach is crowded and the set of waves are especially outsized, this type of rip can be especially dangerous, as was the case on "Black Sunday" at Bondi Beach, Australia, in 1938, when, over the course of 20 minutes, 35 rip-caught swimmers were pulled unconscious from the water, five of whom died.

Swimming or paddling directly against a riptide is nearly always futile; the easiest and most direct way out is to angle laterally across the current, into the nearby breaking surf—or to simply wait until the current dissipates, beyond the surf line.

Surf band Jon and the Nightriders recorded "Riptide" for 

, their debut album. British singer Robert Palmer titled ins 1985 LP 

. Australian singer-songwriter Vance Joy's "Riptide" (a different song from the Nightriders) was a global hit in 2013 and 2014. 

 is also the name of a popular 1988-founded bodyboarding magazine, published out of Australia.

riptide

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Encyclopedia of Surfing

Encyclopedia of Surfing