I’m not trying to pick a fight, and I know I’m probably coming off like a dick.

But it’s not just for your benefit, you’re downplaying a serious danger and victim blaming. This can happen to anyone at an unmarked beach, which is why government agencies monitoring this shit is important.

You can go do what you want. But don’t make people feel like it’s not a big deal.

Especially when the Gulf has weaker rips than every other coastline in North America, because it’s a gulf.

It’s like me saying no one has to worry about drowning because I only swim in kiddie pools. When the whole ocean is behind a rip it’s entirely different. There are still rips, and people do die from them in the Gulf. But they’re just not as strong as elsewhere. And part of the reason people die there, is they don’t take them serious.