Well informed local ocean | river mouth swimmers are gemnerally aware of the currents and tend to know how far out they carry and where one can get to the side to make their way back.
That said, currents are strong, people have bad days, they can panic, water can be cold .. far colder further out than might be expected and that can weaken the body.
Surfing is a whole other ball of wax; dedicated surf spots might be well offshore and require a boat or a jet ski to even reach, if those get crunched by a slab or fail there might be a whole lot of swimming to get back to shore, assumming the surf didn't get you.
Well informed local ocean | river mouth swimmers are gemnerally aware of the currents and tend to know how far out they carry and where one can get to the side to make their way back.
That said, currents are strong, people have bad days, they can panic, water can be cold .. far colder further out than might be expected and that can weaken the body.
Surfing is a whole other ball of wax; dedicated surf spots might be well offshore and require a boat or a jet ski to even reach, if those get crunched by a slab or fail there might be a whole lot of swimming to get back to shore, assumming the surf didn't get you.
eg: The Right in Western Australia.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xjHaFOGBPzk