Mayor Brian Henry and Chief Fanning discuss Swimmer Safety in Pawleys Island

Pawleys Island is a quiet beach, and for the most part a forgiving one. It is also unguarded, which surprises people who have spent their summers somewhere with a lifeguard stand every two hundred yards. Nobody is watching the water for you here. The good news is that the thing most likely to get you into trouble is also the thing that is easiest to learn to read.

Our beaches are unguarded, so you are swimming at your own risk. The town of Pawleys Island does not provide lifeguards or a flag system, so please use good judgment while swimming in the ocean.

The town made a short video about this after what the mayor describes as a run of rare but tragic drownings. It is two and a half minutes long and it is worth watching before your first swim of the trip. What follows is the same guidance written down, plus the local detail about where on this particular island the risk concentrates.

What a rip current actually is

Water pushed onto the beach by breaking waves has to get back out. Most of the time it drains evenly along the bottom. Sometimes it finds a channel instead, and everything funnels through that one gap at speed. That narrow outbound river is a rip current, and it can move faster than you can swim.

The critical thing to understand is what it does to you. A rip current pulls you away from the beach. It does not pull you under. People drown in rips because they panic and exhaust themselves swimming straight back at the shore against water that is stronger than they are, not because the current drags them down.

How to spot one from the beach

Stand still for a minute before you go in and look at the water rather than through it. You are looking for the place that is different from everything either side of it.

• A gap in the breaking waves. If waves are breaking in a line and there is one stretch where they are not, that flat lane is usually deeper water heading out.
• A channel of churning, foamy water moving away from the beach, against the general direction of everything around it.
• Water that is a different colour, often murkier, because the current is carrying stirred up sand out with it.
• A line of debris, seaweed or foam being carried steadily seaward.

They can be hard to see, but look for areas where waves aren't breaking or where there's a noticeable channel of churning foamy water moving out to sea.

Height helps enormously. From a dune walkover or the top of the steps you can see the pattern on the water that is invisible standing at the waterline. Take the extra ten seconds on the way down.

Where they form on Pawleys specifically

This is the part a generic beach safety page cannot tell you. The town names the two ends of the island as the higher risk stretches, and the reason is structural.

Some of the more rip current prone areas on Pawleys are on the north and south ends of the island, particularly when swimming near the groins or the inlets.

Groins are the rock and timber structures running perpendicular out from the beach. They exist to hold sand in place, and they do that by interrupting the water moving along the shore. Interrupted water has to go somewhere, and alongside a groin it very often goes straight out. The inlets at either end are moving an entire creek system twice a day, which is a great deal of water leaving through a narrow gap.

What to do if you are caught in one

Everything here runs against instinct, which is exactly why it is worth reading in advance rather than working out in the moment.

1. Do not panicEasier written than done, and still the single most important thing. Panic is what turns a manageable situation into a drowning. The current is taking you away from shore, not under.
2. Do not swim straight back to the beachThis is the mistake that kills people. You will be swimming against water moving faster than you can, and you will lose.
3. Float and get your breathing under controlA rip current runs out of energy. You do not have to beat it, you only have to outlast it.
4. Swim parallel to the beachRips are narrow. Swimming across one, along the line of the shore, gets you out of it far sooner than swimming against it.
5. Then angle back in with the wavesOnce you are clear of the channel, let the breaking waves help you rather than fighting anything.

If you find yourself caught in a rip current, the most important thing is don't panic. Don't try to swim back to the shore. Instead, stay calm, float, and swim parallel to the beach until you're out of the current. Then, angle back in with the waves.

What to do if you see someone else caught

This section matters more than people expect, because the person who drowns is frequently the one who went in to help.

If you see someone caught in a rip current, do not try to rescue them without a flotation device. Too many people die trying to rescue others. Instead, call 911, toss them something that floats, and keep your eyes on them so you can report the location to first responders.

1. Call 911 firstDo this before anything else, not after you have tried something.
2. Throw something that floatsA cooler lid, a boogie board, an inflatable, anything. Something buoyant reaching them changes the situation completely.
3. Do not go in without flotationAn unaided rescue attempt very often produces a second casualty rather than one rescue.
4. Keep watching themDo not look away. Responders will need to know where they are, and somebody in the water is extremely hard to relocate once you have lost them.

Sensible habits for an unguarded beach

• Never swim alone, and keep whoever you are with in sight rather than in the general area.
• Put weak swimmers and small children in the water at the middle of the island, away from groins and inlets, and stay within arm's reach.
• Check the surf before you commit. Our tide panel pulls the ocean gauge live, and a big outgoing tide moves considerably more water than a slack one.
• Alcohol and open ocean are a poor combination on a beach with nobody watching.
• If the surf looks bigger or angrier than you are used to, that is information. There is no shame in a creek day instead.

None of this is meant to make the ocean sound like an enemy. Most days here are calm and most swims are uneventful. But an unguarded beach shifts the responsibility onto you, and ten minutes of reading is a reasonable trade for that.

We love this island, and we know you do, too. So, let's protect one another. Respect the ocean, enjoy the beauty of Pawleys, and stay safe while you're here.

Quotations are verbatim from the Town of Pawleys Island swimmer safety video featuring Mayor Brian Henry and Police Chief Michael Fanning. Everything attributed below is theirs. Anything unattributed is ours.