[Gustoo]

It's the same thing Starkind.

Riptide pulls people out away from shore.

They are scared and get exhausted trying to fight it. Need to swim at a different angle to a different point, or whatever, and just relax and float. A lot of people are not strong swimmers. In the pacific ocean, it is also very cold which makes it worse.

Undertow is another kinda fantasy super scary thing. Its basically just water moving the way water moves. "under tow" happens when the shoreline is heavily sloped, so the water moving the way water moves has an effect of pulling a person down.

A large contributor is that areas with large "under tow" effects, being steeper are more dangerous even if the water was perfectly still. One step in towards the ocean equals like 4 feet of water height. Combine that with even a mild swell and you are under water, and if you float out at all you are many feet from the floor. Then, the steep sand is difficult to walk on as the waves are beating the shore and rushing back down the shore to the ocean "pulling you down" and you drown.

There is a beach near me where every couple of years an entire family dies. The daughter floats away on a floaty, and then the dog follows the daughter out.

The father goes out to bring the daughter back, scared for her life. He seems to struggle and the mother goes in too.

Usually the person on a floaty and the dog live and everyone trying to make rescue attempt dies. Adrenaline makes people think they can survive out there with no experience because it is necessary to do so, but the water is too cold and they are too weak, and they die.

But based on your training you'd be fine, probably.

You can save people in the ocean but unless you are swimming multiple hours a week, bring a god damn flotation device. Even a strong swimmer is likely to be drown by the panicking person they go to rescue without a flotation device.

Shit I'm gunna keep a life preserver in my car from now on.