11 people have died in rip currents in less than two weeks along Gulf Coast

[taxi]

14. Yup.

I was up to my chin one day at Daytona or Daytona Beach Shores and got caught. At first I tried to dig in but that was useless. I tried to dig in even deeper and the current got stronger, washing the sand out from around my feet. I tried to swim toward shore using different strokes but I kept losing and I kept fighting. I was almost to my last breath when the concept that this wasn't like a swimming pool where the depth from the edge remained constant and finally made my way out. I swear I came this close to drowning that day - way different from the previous time when swimming across a quarry with 60 feet of water an arms reach from shore...