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Updated: Jun 23, 2026

Developing a Virtual Reality Video Game to Simulate Rip Currents
Published on: July 16, 2020
Self-reported water and drowning risk exposure at surf beaches
Damian Morgan1, Joan Ozanne-Smith, Tom Triggs
1Accident Research Centre, Monash University, Victoria, Australia. damian.morgan@buseco.monash.edu.au
Objective:
To document patterns of water exposure at surf beaches by gender and identify factors that predict bather confidence to return to shore if caught in a rip current.
Method:
Recreational surf beach bathers (N=406) provided self-completed data on water exposure patterns, surf activity behaviours and potential drowning risk and protective factors.
Results:
Relative to females, males visited surf beaches more frequently, expected to spend longer in the water and in deeper water, and more often bathed after using alcohol (p<0.05). Confidence to return to shore if caught in a rip current was predicted by confidence to identify a rip current, self-rated swimming ability, gender, times visited any beach, and age in a standard linear regression model (adjusted R(2)=0.68).
Conclusion:
The study supports explanations that high male drowning rates result from more frequent exposure to water than females at high situational risk levels.
Implications:
Controlled studies are required to determine the role in drowning of overconfidence, swimming ability, surf experience, floatation devices and response to sea conditions.
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