Undertow when surfing?

Question

I just started surfing and I hear people saying undertow whenever they're in the water....

What's an undertow? And is it safe to surf when there's an undertow? lol

Answer 1

You should stay out of the water,KOOK!

Answer 2

If caught in an "Undertow", DO NOT PANIC and try to fight it, you will tire very quickly, you can't fight it, even if you were a "Salmon", just let it take you out, or along the beach "GO WITH THE CURRENT" even if it's heading "OUT", it will stop pulling you out about 100 yards off the beach, where it just deminishes, then you can swim back in, the key is "NOT TO PANIC" and try to fight it but, to go with it until it falls off, they ALWAYS fall off, just off the beach.

Answer 3

Undertow is one of the most often misused terms describing nearshore currents.  

There is a lot of confusion over this term and much misunderstanding over nearshore currents.  The current which you should be aware of is called a rip current.  Rip currents are channels of seaward current.  They do not pull you under, just out.  Swim parallel to the beach to escape a rip current and then catch the nearest wave in.  Rip currents can be your best friend as a surfer if you know how to use them to get a free ride out.

A rip tide completely different and relates to tidal currents.  Don't worry about rip tides unless you are surfing an inlet or river mouth.

For solid information on nearshore currents check out the NOAA website.

This is taken from the NOAA website:

Undertow, an often misunderstood term, refers to the backwash of a wave along the sandy bottom. After a wave breaks and runs up the beach face, some of the water percolates into the sand, but much of it flows back down the beach face creating a thin layer of offshore-moving water with a relatively high velocity. This backwash can trip small children and carry them seaward. However, the next incoming wave causes higher landward velocities, pushing them back up on the beach. Undertow does not pull you under water or out to sea.

My friend always thought his parents were saying "under TOAD" so he was always worried about a big salwater toad trying to pull him under and eat him!

Answer 4

Riptides and undertows are related. Breaking waves approaching the beach carry water toward the beach. The water can't just pile up there: it has to escape back out to sea somehow. If there's a place along the beach where the waves aren't as strong, the piled-up water near the shore escapes through that weak spot, flowing back out to sea. This is a rip tide. If there is no spot with weaker surf, the piled-up water flows down and under the waves and back out to sea, forming an undertow.

I've never experienced an undertow which was strong enough to actually suck someone under water: most deaths attributed to "undertow" happen when people playing in the area where the waves run up onto the beach get their feet knocked out from under them when the water flows back down to the sea. They get dragged a short distance into the breakers, and aren't strong enough or knowledgeable enough to get back to shore.

To escape a riptide, swim alongshore to the left or right, to escape the seaward-flowing jet of water. Riptides can flow much faster than you can swim: if you try to swim directly back to shore against the current, you'll soon become tired and risk drowning. Surfers often use them as "express lanes" to get back into deep water after catching a wave. But don't do this unless you're a strong swimmer, have a surfboard for flotation, and know exactly how far out the riptide will take you.

Answer 5

The undertow is the current running under the surf.  In some instances, they can be strong enough to pull you out to see or push you down the beach.  In open beaches, you can tell you are in one because you are either slowly moving further off shore or rapidly moving down the beach while you are sitting in the line up.  The can be dangerous.  Paddle along with it and you can make it back to shore, paddle against it and you may get to tired to paddle.  Once while surfing a hurricane swell in the 80's off the Texas coast we were pulled about a mile off shore before we realized we were being pulled out into the gulf.  We didn't panic, simply caught waves while paddling in to offset the pull of the under tow.  Just be aware that it is there and if it appears too strong for you paddling abilities, don't enter the water.