misterbaxter above, these are necessary for rips to form. Beaches that are good for surfing are exactly the ones that are bad for swimming, perhaps this is why they have problems in Cornwall. And where exactly are we to find these carefully guarded places to swim? There's an app for that. No, seriously, there is, for both Android and Apple, and it's free. I wandered across an ad for it earlier today, entirely unrelated to this article (possibly the ad was on the MetOffice website) and had a very very quick look (not something I normally do with ads). If you look on google earth, the beach near bude, where the poor woman died, clearly shows a rip in the center of the beach (you can tell it's a rip because there's no waves breaking) where as there are either side. So there's obviously a recurring problem on this particular beach. Yeah here too that is the reaction we get from grockles when we suggest that sticking a kid on an inflatable with the wind blowing off the land is not a good plan. Only trying to save the lifeboat a job is our response. I understand that those visiting beaches believe that there should be more spent on keeping them safe and there are plenty of beaches where this is the case but I also think that personal responsibilty needs to be addressed. I live near a very rippy beach and yesterday went out for a surf and came