NEW YORK — The Belle Harbor section of the Rockaways in New York where so many heroes emerged during Superstorm Sandy has lost one of them to a tragic surfing death in Puerto Rico. Friends of 23-year-old Dylan Smith and his family expressed sorrow Monday that someone who saved so many lives during the October storm could lose his own on vacation. A local funeral parlor said funeral arrangements were being made. The New York City lifeguard was widely praised after the storm for using his surfboard to move several Queens neighbors endangered by high water and a fire to safety. Smith's body was found floating Sunday morning near his surfboard in waters off Maria's Beach in the western Puerto Rican community of Rincon. The town's beaches attract surfers from across the world
Awful news...... I'm guessing they either haven't found out, or do not want to post it, but any ideas as to what happened? Hit his head? Hold down? etc..? Also anyone have the surf report for that day? Was it big, messy, etc... -Thoughts and Prayers-
You can go to rinconsurfreport.com and they have a calender where you can pull up the surf for that day. My wife told me about it the day it happened as she watches the news from down there every night. I have searched around and haven't found anything yet as to the cause. My prayers go out to his family. I'm heading down next month and it makes you think about things, maybe up my life insurance policy or something. I have a little one to consider, maybe not go out if it gets too big. You should always have a surf buddy but it can be hard to keep track of each other when it gets big. RIP bro.
It looked pretty gnarly from the reports... plus those who were there said it was a bit disorganized in the morning. Still, horrible to hear =/
It was at Marias in Rincon. I was out there too. Pretty sure I saw him while I was out. I think he had a GoPro on his board, but I'm not quite sure. It was big but not 10-12 feet. Clean up sets were a solid 8 feet. I rode one wave and got out because my board was too small and it was hard to even bottom turn. Crazy stuff. A family we met down here said they ended up pulling him from the water 10 min after my mom and I had left. I never saw anyone in distress in the water nor did I see a board tombstone. Be safe down there if you guys go.
