Sometimes when you’re swimming with a floaty, you may suddenly realize you’ve gone farther out than you intended to. Maybe your floaty floated out too far, or maybe a current swept you out to sea. If this ever happens, there are two things to remember. First, don’t panic. If you’re on a floaty, stay on it and just paddle your way back. If you panic and jump off, the water might be too deep to stand and you’ll get tired faster.

If you’re in the ocean and this happens, swim or paddle diagonal to the shore. The ocean develops what are called rip currents. Rip currents are like little rivers that exist within the ocean. As the waves go in, the water must eventually come back out. But it doesn’t go out evenly; it tends to rush back out along underwater channels that you can’t see. People who swim into these can get pulled out to sea. If you panic and try to swim directly back to shore, you’re swimming against the current and will just tire yourself out. But the good news is that these invisible rivers aren’t very wide, usually just 15 or 20 feet across. So swimming sideways will get you out of the tide, and then you can swim back without fighting the current.

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