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Expert: Don't attempt a human-chain rescue at the Jersey Shore

The dramatic rescue in Florida occurred in Gulf waters, not the rougher Atlantic.

A "no swimming" sign is seen in Asbury Park, N.J.
A "no swimming" sign is seen in Asbury Park, N.J.Read moreSeth Wenig / AP

What a crowd of strangers did in the waters off Panama City, Fla., during the weekend qualifies as heroic.

The nine people, including two children, stuck in a rip current owe their lives to the 80 or so people who formed a human chain to pull them to safety.

But if something similar occurred, say, off Atlantic City or Avalon, that strategy probably would not work, says Chris Brewster of the U.S. Lifesaving Association in California.

Brewster pointed out Wednesday that the waters and wave action in the Gulf of Mexico, while dangerous enough, typically are not as chaotic and forceful as those of the Atlantic.

Atlantic swells off New Jersey in the summer can originate in storms in the Southern Hemisphere, where it's the dead of winter.

The interaction of waves, currents, and surf conditions produce rip currents, which are funnels of rapidly seaward-moving water, with speeds of up to eight feet per second.

Sometimes, they are long-term features, but they can form ad hoc.

The National Weather Service posts rip-current forecasts, and guarded beaches should provide ample warning of the presence of rip currents.

At least four drownings at the Shore this year appear to be related to rip currents. Nearly 40 deaths have been blamed on rip currents at Jersey Shore and Delaware beaches in the last two decades.

If you get caught in one, experts warn not to swim against the current, but to try to swim out of it, heading toward the shore at an angle.

As for rescue efforts, Brewster said: "We don't encourage untrained people to attempt to make a rescue because sometimes that ends up with two people dying."

The best way to stay safe, he said, is to swim at guarded beaches only.