Beach Flag Warnings.

Know Before You Go!
Living at and visiting Navarre Beach is such a pleasant privilege but yet so often an innocent trip to the beach, for locals and tourists, can end in tragedy. Know before you go! There are many websites that you can visit to find out the current flag warnings on Navarre Beach. A website that I would suggest would be http://www.wear3.com/ or use http://www.google.com/ to search for other sites/options. Having lived here for seven years now, I have witnessed so many lives be taken by the rip currents in our waters. Yes the water is calm, the sun is hot and the sand is crisp & cool but don't let your eyes fool you... underneath the surface of the water can be a totally different story. Mother Nature is nothing to mess with. I could almost use the phrase "never judge a book by its cover" when referring to the water here. Please check the flags before heading out and stay near the lifeguard towers at all times.

Quick notes about Navarre Beach: On Navarre Beach, a green flag is never used. In the calmest conditions a yellow flag is flown because it reminds everyone to always be cautious near the water. Also, there has NEVER been an accidental drowning in the lifeguard-patrolled areas on Navarre Beach while lifeguards were on duty.

About Rip Currents Rip Currents can exist without the tides. Tides, however, make an existing Rip Current much more dangerous. The typical flow of a Rip Current is at 0.5 meters per second which equals 1-2 feet per second and can be as fast as 2.5 meters per second which equals 8 feet per second. Rip Currents can be recognized by unusually calm water. This is caused by the channel of water flowing. Rip Currents are dangerous because they drag swimmers away from the beach and this leads to drowning when the swimmer attempts to fight the current and becomes exhausted. Rip Currents cause approximately 100 deaths each year in the United States. Over 80% of rescues by beach lifeguards are due to Rip Currents. Rip Currents are formed when wind and waves push water towards the shore, the previous backwash is often pushed sideways by the oncoming waves. The water in the Rip Current streams along the shoreline until it finds an exit back to the sea. Rip Currents are normally narrow and are located in a trench between sand bars, under piers or along jetties.

How To Survive a Rip Current It's not that difficult if you stay calm and know exactly what to do. First, you will need to tread water and let the rip current carry you out. Eventually it will dissipate outside the breaking surf. You can then swim around the rip current and back to shore. Do not swim against it or you will tire out and drown. Staying calm and being able to ride it out will save your life. I would recommend swimming parallel to the shore until you feel the break in the current. Rip currents are usually concentrated in one place and by swimming parallel to the shore you will eventually make it outside of the current at which point you can swim straight to shore. If you decide to swim parallel and you feel it getting worse, you could be in a rare instance where the rip current is diagonal to the shore and what you will need to do then is turn around and swim parallel to shore in the other direction.