A powerful, narrow channel of water that flows rapidly away from shore through the surf zone, forming where breaking waves push water toward the beach faster than it can drain evenly back out, concentrating the return flow through a gap in a sandbar or near a jetty. Rip currents are among the leading causes of surf rescues and drownings worldwide, because a swimmer caught in one is carried out to sea rather than pulled under, and swimming directly against the current rarely succeeds. Escaping one is best done by swimming parallel to shore until clear of the narrow channel, then swimming back in at an angle.
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