Q&A: The dangers of rip currents on the Great Lakes and how to swim to safety

As summer approaches and beach days return to the shores of our local lakes, water safety and drowning prevention is top of mind for Nathan MacIntyre.

The long-time lifeguard and water safety advocate from Port Stanley, Ont., has made it his mission to bring awareness to the danger of rip currents on the Great Lakes after losing a close friend to drowning on the day they graduated high school. He is a member of the Elgin County Drowning Prevention Coalition and formerly served on the board of Great Lakes Water Safety, and delivers local seminars on water safety.

MacIntyre joined London Morning host Andrew Brown to talk about rip currents and what to do if you get pulled out to deep water.

The following has been edited for length and clarity:

Andrew Brown: What is a rip current?

Nathan MacIntyre: A rip current is a powerful, concentrated channel of water; a focused current that flows from the shore through the breaking waves and out past them, bringing with it debris, sediment, people, or whatever happens to be in the path, and depositing it in deeper water.

AB: What is it that makes them so dangerous for people who are swimming?

NM: It's essentially the return of water. Every time we see breaking waves on the beach, there's an increased volume of water that ends up on the beach itself. That water needs to get back out to the lake somehow. It does that in a few ways, and one of those ways is through rip currents. The danger lies in the fact that this return current becomes a focused, channelized flow of water. That concentrated flow is what makes it so hazardous.

AB: What should people be looking out for?

NM: There are subtle signs. It's not easy to spot. It takes practice to see. Waves usually break on shallow sandbars, while rip currents often flow through deeper channels. A channelized rip current is a type of current controlled by the lake bottom, the bathymetry. Water finds a weak point in the sandbar and creates a deeper path there.

One thing to watch for is where the waves are breaking. If they're breaking consistently on sandbars, it's safer there. But if there are gaps with no breaking waves, that could be a deeper channel and a rip current. These currents can also carve out a concave shape, called a cusp, on the shoreline. Also, stay away from structures. The Great Lakes have many manmade and natural structures that water flows around, and these can generate structural or boundary-controlled rip currents.

AB: Considering how difficult they can be to spot, especially for an amateur, if you do find yourself caught in one, what should you do?

NM: A good phrase to remember is Flip, Float, and Follow. Flip onto your back, float, or, as I like to say, continue to float because you're likely already doing that, and try to relax. I know that sounds counterintuitive, especially in a traumatic moment, but it's important. Fighting the current won't help, you'll just get tired. You need to conserve your energy.

So again: flip onto your back, float, allow the current to take you a little, and then follow the waves back to shore once it releases you.

AB: That would be tough, though. Fighting would be such a natural thing in a situation like that, wouldn't it?

NM: It absolutely is. Our instinct is to turn toward shore and swim straight back because that feels safe. But unfortunately, that's exactly the wrong thing to do. Instead, try to feel what the water is doing. Do you know how an approaching wave sometimes pulls you back before it crashes? Fighting those forces is usually futile. Instead, go with the flow and wait for the current to ease, then make your way back safely.

AB: Why is this something that's so important to you, Nathan?

NM: It's a personal connection. I lost a dear friend in 1998 on the last day of high school. We were all celebrating, and the tragedy affected me and many of our friends and family members. I became a lifeguard after that, and I kept hearing that "undertow" was the danger on the Great Lakes, that it would grab you by the ankles and pull you under. But that's simply not true.

Undertow does exist; it's a general return of water, but it's not nearly as forceful or dangerous as people think. Rip currents, on the other hand, are focused and concentrated surface currents that pull people out quickly. Knowing the difference could save a life. So that misinformation is part of what drives me; even after 20+ years as a lifeguard, I still hear people warning about "undertow" when it's actually rip currents that pose the danger.

Nathan MacIntyre will be taking his rip current safety advocacy to the water later this summer when he takes on the challenge to Paddle the Ports: A Journey for Rip Current Awareness on the Great Lakes.

He will paddle 35 kilometres from Port Stanley to Port Burwell on a homemade paddleboard he built over the winter.

For more, you can visit the ripcurrents.org website or follow MacIntyre's journey on Instagram.