Posted on 07/13/2008 6:41:11 PM PDT by Coleus
Three people drowned in two separate incidents in the waters off Atlantic City and Wildwood Saturday, after getting pulled by strong rip currents from the effects of Hurricane Bertha, officials said. Bertha is now a tropical storm in the Atlantic Ocean approaching Bermuda. But meteorologists at the National Weather Service in Mount Holly said the rip currents are expected to remain a danger into the early part of this week.
This morning, the Coast Guard shifted its search effort for a missing Wildwood swimmer from a rescue mission to a recovery operation. The swimmer was identified as 28-year-old Juan Moore of Philadelphia, according to Wildwood police. The recovery operation continued as of 2 p.m. today, Wildwood police said, as teams from the State Police Marine Unit, the Coast Guard, North Wildwood Beach Patrol and Wildwood Crest Beach Patrol assisting.
Rescuers searched for Moore for overnight hoping to save him, authorities said, before shifting their effort around 7:30 a.m. today. The rescue was ended because it was "past the point of survivability without a life jacket," said Coast Guard Petty Officer Christopher McLaughlin. Moore and two friends had attempted to swim to a buoy 100 yards away but were caught in the rip current, McLaughlin said.
(Excerpt) Read more at nj.com ...
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People come “down the shore” without ever having been swimming in anything deeper than a backyard pool. There ARE riptides and undercurrents. The ocean is a dangerous place for the unaware.
mrs
The ocean is a dangerous place for the unaware. >>
it sure is.
there’s also been a spate of drownings, in built-in pools, in the upper-class areas of long island. you would think with all that money they would buy an alarm for their pool.
“There ARE riptides and undercurrents.”
Never been in an undercurrent, but I’ve been in plenty of rips. Just have to swim parallel to shore until you get out of it. If you fight it, you’ll be hauled out to sea.
Needless to say, It’s All George Bush’s Fault.
I LOVE rip currents. Express trains through the surf line.
Not for the inexperienced; no.
“I LOVE rip currents. Express trains through the surf line.”
You must be a surfer dude. Surfer dudes can do lots of stuff that would kill us ordinary folks. Once I was swimming at Puerto Escondido and got caught out in some twelve foot surf. It was just beating me to death. I waved at a surfer and he paddled over and gave me his board. Saved my life, I’m sure. I went to thank him the next day at a restaurant, and all he said was, “Yeah, it was gnarly out there.” Great guy.
Yeah, I'm from SoCal. I was body surfing 10 foot waves when I was 11 years old. The life guards didn't like it one bit — a scrawny little kid fighting his way through the surf line — but I was keeping up with the surfers, so what could they say?
I did a little board surfing, but became obsessed with SCUBA diving at the age of 14. The same skill set comes in handy when you have to get past the surf line to the kelp beds. Just find that turbid streak of water cutting through the surf and ride it on out.
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