This is a dangerous time of the year for rip currents in the ocean. Signs are posted on many Grand Strand beaches, informing swimmers about the danger of rip currents. But are those signs doing any good?
A team of researchers hit the beach today in Myrtle Beach to find out.
A rip current is a channel of water that heads away from the beach and it can carry swimmers out with it. To get out of a rip current, the experts say, don't panic, and swim parallel to the shore.
The South Carolina Sea Grant Consortium has put up about 200 rip current warning signs on the Grand Strand and other state beaches.
But no one knows for sure how well the signs are working. So, four Coastal Carolina University students grabbed clipboards and pens and starting walking the beach.
They'll be comparing their survey results here, where warning signs are posted, with a similar survey done in Hilton Head, where there are no signs.
What they've found out so far is people know the basics about what rip currents are.
"Over the years they've heard things on TV. they've heard it on the radio. they hear it from the lifeguards. So generally, people do know about rip currents. But to what degree is what we're trying to determine," said Sea Grant Consortium specialist Clay McCoy.
Along with asking questions, the students also handed out brochures about rip currents, with the hope that the information sinks in.
"It's been good for me and a good experience getting to talk to people and teaching them things they didn't know before," said CCU student Carrie Wein.
The researchers will compile their information in September and decide from there if more needs to be done.
"Based on the results we might come back and try some different methods or we may just stick with the signs and determine that we need more signs in more public access locations," McCoy said.
Along with Myrtle Beach, the students also surveyed swimmers in Pawleys Island, one of the deadliest places in South Carolina for drownings caused by rip currents.
