Know what your getting into - Keep Safe around Channels & Rip Currents this Summer .




Channels and Rip currents on Inchydoney beach

By Sinead O’ Reilly, Beach Lifeguard Inchydoney Beach Team


As a lifeguard on Inchydoney beach, I deal with rip currents every day. For those readers that don’t already know what a rip current is, it is a narrow, fast-moving belt of water moving in an opposite or different direction to the water around. It is often described as a river in the sea.



Note the Channels to the far east & west of the beach.
On Inchydoney beach there are two channels that act like rips. These channels are located at the west side of the west beach and the east side of the east beach and are used by boats to enter into Clonakilty bay. When the tide is going out both channels pull out to sea and when the tide is going in both channels pull into the bay.

 These pulls make the area very dangerous for swimmers and life hard for us lifeguards. Because the channels are calm, members of the public view them as safe to swim, however, this is not the case. Along with a strong current that CAN NOT be swam against comes a dramatic change in depth and soft, sinking sand that makes it very hard for swimmers to regain footing. It is for these reasons that the lifeguards on Inchydoney advise no one to swim in these channels.



  

I, like many other people, did not understand the true pull of these channels until I went over to train in the area on our lifeguard training day (written about in previous blog).  We did this to experience what it was like to swim there and our tutor & expert safety backup was on hand.  

So that others could see the true dangers of the channels,  we decided to take a video of one of the lifeguards trying to swim against the pull of the channel. The tide was going out and so she was being pulled out to sea quite rapidly, have a look:


As you can see in the video the lifeguard,  who might I add is a much-decorated swimmer, was going nowhere when she was trying to swim against the current.  On Inchydoney beach there are also two common rip currents that pull most days. These two rips are located on either side of the Virgin Mary bank (the headland on which the lifeguard station is located).

 These rips pull out to sea when the tide passes the slip on the east beach and although are useful to surfers for getting out, cause must grieve for the lifeguards as many swimmers see the area as a safe place to enter the water, (especially on the east beach at the end of the slip). Agin, we  try to advise everyone not to swim in this area as we have had to rescue multiple swimmers from these rips already this year.

Like all beaches, conditions change on Inchydoney every day and so do the strength of the rips. Just remember that the safest place to swim/play on a beach is between the two red over yellow flags (where there will be no rips).

Inchydoney is one of the most beautiful beaches in the Country and we encourage all swimmers and holiday goers to come along and have a Super Summer Experience on Inchydoney Island.  Swim between the Flags and you will be in the lifeguard patrolled area.  However, if you do find yourself caught in a rip do not try to swim against it, instead, don't panic & swim perpendicular to the pull - swimming out of the rip.











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