Where "Rip" Comes From
The "swim between the flags" message is Australia's core beach safety campaign, but the numbers behind it are sobering. In the year covered by a recent UNSW-linked report, 54 people drowned along the Australian coast — 28 of them in NSW alone, the highest total in that state's recorded history — with about 80% of those drownings happening at beaches and nearly half of them attributed to rip currents.
The most striking finding is where these deaths happen: all 54 of those drownings occurred at locations with no lifeguard or surf lifesaver patrol, and less than 5% of Australia's roughly 11,000 beaches are patrolled at all, usually only seasonally. A rip is simply a fast-moving channel of water pulling out to sea, often mistaken for the calmest-looking part of the beach — which is exactly why the advice to swim only between the red and yellow flags exists in the first place.
Source:
"Don't swim there, there's a nasty rip."
How Aussies Actually Use It
It's used constantly in beach safety warnings, since rips are a leading cause of ocean rescues and drownings.
Swimming between the flags is the standard advice for avoiding one.
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