I just received the following message from the Hyde Co Emergency Management Office re. ocean swimming at Ocracoke:
...RIP CURRENT RISK NOW IN EFFECT THROUGH SUNDAY EVENING...
THE COMBINATION OF HIGH ASTRONOMICAL TIDES AND LONG PERIOD SWELLS FROM TROPICAL STORM COLIN WELL EAST OF THE REGION WILL PRODUCE A HIGH RISK OF RIP CURRENTS THROUGH SUNDAY EVENING.
THE MOST LIKELY TIME FOR LIFE THREATENING RIP CURRENTS WILL BE A COUPLE OF HOURS EITHER SIDE OF LOW TIDE.
LOW TIDE SUNDAY WILL OCCUR AROUND NOON.
Ocracoke's beaches are among the best in the entire United States. The water has been delightfully warm recently, and the waves have been fun to ride. Enjoy the beach...just remember -- it is not a swimming pool. If you are ever caught in a rip tide, don't panic...just swim parallel with the beach (rip currents, though often powerful, are never very wide), then swim back to shore.
This month's Ocracoke Newsletter is the story of the 1913 wreck of the 6-masted schooner, George W. Wells. You can read it here: http://www.villagecraftsmen.com/news072110.htm.
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Thank you for explaining about the non-width of rip tides. Now I'll remember better about swimming parallel 'cause I know why. Read your blog regularly and enjoy it. Thank you!
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