German Drowns in Rough Seas on Koh Phangan

[pattayahenry]

if a current pulls you out, you have to swim parallel to the coastline, not back to the beach, and wait, until the current is getting weaker.

http://www.loving-long-island.com/rip-currents.html

[TheLobster]

Not sure where all these lifeguards would come from as the Thais generally aren't into swimming nor strong swimmers. It would be impossible to police all of Thailand's beaches but the resorts should be making people aware of the dangers of swimming and rip currents in their information package.

[Stargeezr]

RIP for this man who drowned because he ignored warnings and still went

into the sea. I am always wary of the ocean, due to rip tides, and storms,

as well as windy days. Don't mess with Mother Nature, you will lose.

Sotirios, I just wonder where you come from to think that every where in the

world , there should be life guards every 50 meters or so. As some commenters

said, you must be from a nanny state or country for sure.

I feel sorry for this man's wife, children, family and friends.

I wonder why people do not do research, before they go on their vacations.

Learn about the country they will be visiting, and also to be cautious.

Maybe common sense is not very common any more.

[Bsd]

Unfortunately I don't think anything can be done to stop this.

Currently there are countless red flags down Thong Nai Pan Noi beach, a few of which are the ones supplied by the OrBorTor (these arrived about 3 years ago) which have no swimming logos and the words "Dangerous No Swimming" written on them.

On Wednesday before the German died one resort had staff pull 2 of their guests out of the water. Friday someone else came down to the beach, placed their towel right infant of a red flag, was told by resort staff not to go swimming and then walked straight into a rip and had to be rescued.

Today I got home from town to see jet skis out rescuing 2 more people and not 5 minutes later someone else decided to go swimming out beyond the waves.

The German and the guy on Friday both considered themselves to be strong swimmers. All I can think is that people on holiday think that nothing will happen to them and that somehow they will be safe.

[evadgib]

I had a business lunch in a restaurant overlooking Chaweng beach last Thursday and kept getting food in my ear

(Bikini tops were getting ripped off by the waves!)

[pattayahenry]

ripcurrents account for 80% of beach rescues.
the cause of all this unnessecary deaths is lack of information. ripcurrents are killing 10x more people than sharks, but nobody knows about them. 2meter high waves are no problem at all for a strong swimmer, and he only will laugh about red flags or signs saying- swimming is dangerous, because he does not know rip currents, and how to handle them.
the last picture of this website should be put at all beaches, where this ripcurrents occur, in ko chang , tropicana hotel, they have done this already.
http://www.loving-long-island.com/rip-currents.html
even trained lifeguards only attempt a rescue using a flotation device

[sunnyjim5]

ripcurrents account for 80% of beach rescues.

the cause of all this unnessecary deaths is lack of information. ripcurrents are killing 10x more people than sharks, but nobody knows about them. 2meter high waves are no problem at all for a strong swimmer, and he only will laugh about red flags or signs saying- swimming is dangerous, because he does not know rip currents, and how to handle them.

the last picture of this website should be put at all beaches, where this ripcurrents occur, in ko chang , tropicana hotel, they have done this already.

http://www.loving-long-island.com/rip-currents.html

even trained lifeguards only attempt a rescue using a flotation device

I have no idea whether the 80% figure you give is accurate because there is no link to a verifiable source.

However, I do agree with you about the dangers rips pose. If there is any surf there will be rips !

There is not much can be done about people who arrogantly disregard red flags.

Attempts to educate can have results as is seen in Australia on guarded beaches were people swim in areas marked as "safe" by the lifeguards, however, there are still those who "know better" and swim where they want, often to their detriment.

[pattayahenry]

http://oceanservice.noaa.gov/facts/ripcurrent.html
in this video you will find the 80% information, for me that sounds very believable.
rip currents can move faster than an Olympic swimmer.
Lifeguards rescue tens of thousands of people from rip currents in the U.S. every year
While the terms are often confused, rip currents are different than rip tides
A rip simply carries floating objects, including people, to an area outside the zone of the breaking waves.This strong surface flow tends to damp the effect of incoming waves, leading to the illusion of a calm part of the sea, without waves, which may possibly attract some swimmers to that area.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rip_current
Rip currents can occur at any beach where there are breaking waves: on oceans, seas, and large lakes. The location of rip currents can be unpredictable: while some tend to recur always in the same place, others can appear and disappear suddenly at various locations near the beach