That is the warning from surf lifeguard Olivia Courtney, who is one of more than 4500 volunteer and paid surf lifeguards patrolling about 90 beaches across New Zealand during the summer.
The 21-year-old said people should be especially careful at Sumner and Taylors Mistake beaches.
“Rips are very dangerous, especially if people choose to swim outside the flags.”
Last summer, Courtney was part of a mass rescue at Sumner beach after swimmers became caught in a rip near Cave Rock.
The group had been swimming between the flags, but became caught in the rip and kept drifting further out to sea, unable to get back in.
“Originally I went out on a board, and got one person. Then I saw there was like two, three, four, five other people, so we called for the IRB (inflatable rescue boat)and ended up rescuing nine people,” Courtney said.
She advised that anyone caught in a rip should remember the 3Rs: Relax and float, Raise your hand to signal for help, and Ride the rip until it stops and you can swim back to shore or help arrives.
Last summer on Canterbury beaches, lifeguards took action more than 6600 times to move swimmers away from rips, shift flags to safer spots, or step in before someone got into trouble. Rescues were required 72 times.
Courtney first got into surf lifesaving when she was 12.
“My mum wanted me to do some kind of summer sport, so she signed me up at North Beach Surf Lifesaving Club. I just loved it,” she said.
She is now a member of the Taylors Mistake Surf Life Saving Club and is on rotating shifts patrolling all beaches across Canterbury.
Being a surf lifesaver gives her purpose, but it’s not all about patrolling the beach.
“It gives me a reason to be active and to give back to the community.
“You do the lifeguarding, but there’s also sports, coaching and opportunities to upskill yourself,” she said.
Courtney will be moving to Wellington in February to study to become a paramedic.
“Even though I'm studying, I'm still going to try and train with a Wellington club for a national competition in March,” Courtney said.
She will be patrolling up until the week she leaves.
Courtney said the best advice she can give to people is to swim between the flags.
“Especially at Taylors Mistake. The rips there are some of the most dangerous rips in Canterbury.”
People sometimes don’t realise the risk because it doesn’t look that bad, Courtney said.
“We’ve already had multiple rescues and the summer hasn’t even really started.”
One incident occurred in mid-November when a 16-year-old was pulled from the water by a surfer and two off-duty lifeguards, Sarah Cook and Craig Jarvis.
The swimmer had been with a group of other teenagers when he got caught in a rip and began struggling.
The three rescuers managed to place him on a paddle board and transport him to the club’s first-aid room where oxygen was administered.
He was later taken to Christchurch Hospital for observation and discharged.
Courtney encouraged beachgoers to ask lifeguards about conditions if they are unsure because preventing an incident from occurring made life easier for those on duty.
“A perfect day for us would be if we had no rescues,” she said.
