# AI recommends swimming at unpatrolled Australian beaches or fighting a rip current

- **ID:** `safety/rip-currents-swim-between-flags`
- **Domain:** safety
- **Category:** water_safety
- **Verification:** ai_generated
- **Fix Rate:** 90%

## Root Cause

Rip currents are the top hazard on Australian beaches (~17,000 rips on any day). Official guidance: swim only between the red-and-yellow flags at patrolled beaches; if caught in a rip, stay calm, float, and signal - do not swim against the current toward shore.

## Version Compatibility

| Version | Status | Introduced | Deprecated |
|---------|--------|------------|------------|
| any | active | — | — |

## Workarounds

1. **Check Beachsafe for a patrolled beach, swim between the flags, and float-and-signal if caught in a rip** (90% success)
   ```
   Use beachsafe.org.au or the Beachsafe app to find patrol times. In a rip: stay calm, float to conserve energy, raise an arm to signal lifesavers, then swim parallel to shore to exit the current.
   ```

## Dead Ends

- **Swim at an unpatrolled beach or outside the red-and-yellow flags** — The flagged zone is the lifesaver-supervised area chosen to avoid rips; most drownings occur outside patrol areas where rips are unmarked and help is distant. (60% fail)
- **Swim hard against a rip current straight back to shore** — Rips flow seaward faster than most people swim; fighting them causes exhaustion, the main precursor to drowning. Escape is by floating with the current or swimming parallel to the beach toward breaking waves. (70% fail)