In case of rip current, swim parallel to shore. I should have known this at 19, but for some reason it was never covered in any swim class I had ever taken. One summer in college, I had tagged along on a trip my then-boyfriend (let’s call him T) and his family was taking to Hawaii. Apparently everyone else knew this fun fact about ocean safety, but forgot to share it with me.

We had plunked our towels and beach gear down on the sand. The ocean was unusually calm, the waves not large or consistent enough for surfing. T’s three teenage sisters decided to spend the day tanning, and his mother curled up in a beach chair with the latest thousand-page Harry Potter. T and I were more restless and decided to swim out without boogie boards. After a few minutes, I noticed that waves got bigger and T was nowhere to be found. I turned back and realized I was much farther from the shore than I thought. As I was trying to judge the distance, a wave crashed over my head.

The waves, which seemed like gentle rolls in the distance, became much larger and fiercer up close. Panicking, I tried to swim back to shore, but every stroke forward pushed me 10 feet back. Still no sign of T, and his family was now just tiny dots on the faraway sun-drenched shore. Tanning and reading about child wizards on the beach didn’t seem like such a bad idea now. More waves crashed over my head. I gulped about 5 lung-fulls of sea water. I considered yelling for help, but knew my calls would be drowned out by the roar of the ocean.

I emerged from another wave crash to see the tip of a surfboard, and then the middle-aged surfer alongside it who asked if I was okay.

“Help?” I said, with a question intonation, trying to remember how to speak again. He helped me onto the surfboard, and the next wave pushed us back to shore.

T’s mother looked up from Harry Potter and asked if I had a nice swim. His sisters were arguing about who used the last of the tanning oil. I told them about my near-death experience, while simultaneously thanking the nice surfer who pulled me in.

A few minutes after I told my story, T appeared. He had been caught in the rip current too, but just swam parallel to the shore until he could stand up in the water. “Everyone knows that’s what you’re supposed to do.” He paused, suddenly noticing the surfer carrying his board back into the ocean. “Who’s that guy?”

- by Diana Kuan of Indietrekker fame