Gustavo Silva Da Cruz was among three swimmers seen struggling in the water around noon on Sunday at Camber Sands.
He was discovered on the beach at 18:20 BST and declared dead at the scene. Police said he had been visiting family in Croydon, south London.
The others - a man and his teenage son - are critical but stable in hospital.
The pair, who are aged 35 and 17 and from London, were not connected to Mr Silva Da Cruz.
They were given CPR by paramedics and airlifted to hospital.
Live updates after swimmer's body discovered
A Go Fund Me website appeal has been set up to raise funds to return Mr Silva Da Cruz's body to Brazil.
It says he was in the UK to visit his father and family, who are originally from Brazil.
He was raised in Brazil by his grandparents and mother.
The website said: "The family was enjoying the hot weather in the company of friends at Camber Sands beach where Gustavo drowned.
"The young man was dragged by the strong wind which started suddenly and could not swim back to the beach."
More than 1,000 people have signed a petition calling for lifeguards to be located at Camber Sands.
Rother District Council said it was saddened by the incident and its thoughts were with the families and friends of those affected.
It said the beach was "particularly busy with around 25,000 visitors" on Sunday.
"As is usual for the summer season, beach patrols were on site to advise people of potential dangers, reunite lost children and deal with incidents on the beach.
"The district council's coastal officer and officers from Sussex Police were also on the beach."
A spokesman said: "Our officers are trained to deal with incidents on the shore and acted quickly and professionally in what was an extremely distressing situation; performing CPR on two of the men and alerting HM Coastguard and the RNLI who carried out the search for the missing man."
A man who died after two others were pulled from the sea off East Sussex has been identified as a 19-year-old Brazilian national.