🌊 A "riptide" 1. Common Usage (Meaning a Rip Current) The term riptide is most frequently and popularly used to refer to a rip current, which is the leading cause of beach bathing rescues and accidents. * Rip Current Definition: A strong, narrow, localized current of water that flows away from the shore and out toward the ocean, perpendicular or at an acute angle to the shoreline. * Cause: They are caused by the action of breaking waves pushing water toward the shore, which then seeks a path of