Designs said:
Remember the Rip Tides that would take you through the Pier and you'd end up by the Cliffs.
Yes, I remember going in the water at Beach Blvd and being sucked through the pier and not being able to get out till close to Golden West.
On days like that you can see the side current moving north from your car. I trianglulate to keep my postition but I get lazy and give up and let it deposit me where it likes which is often a mile or so from where I started. I think that condition usually occures during big south swells. A few years ago I got sucked in to Ray Bay at Seal Beach. I didn't want to wind up on the Long Beach side of the jetty and have to walk back along PCH so I got off my board and tried walking thru the shallow water that was less than waste high. It must have taken me 15 min or more to travel 40 or so feet back to the jetty the water was flowing so fast. It made me realize how someone can drown in a foot or two of fast moving water.