Rip Currents are narrow channels of fast-moving ocean water that travel away from the beach toward the sea. They occur when too much ocean water is being driven toward a shoreline, usually by a storm or a persistent on-shore wind. The ocean water piles up along the beach and has to find a way to escape back to sea. Rip Currents accomplish this, but sometimes at the expense of unsuspecting swimmers who are caught in the fast-moving current and find themselves being swept out to sea.
---David Murphy
