When the F do they get off duty this year??? It's 6:15 and I'm looking at the cams and they're not showing any signs of packing up...
Down here in Carolina Beach we have guards on two shifts. Some stay until 5, others 7. Trucks and 4 wheelers stay on until 8. Probably something similar up there
Thinking he means the guards couldn't get to a swimmer in time to save the guy... The search for a swimmer who went missing in Carolina Beach has now turned into a search and recovery mission, according to Carolina Beach Ocean Rescue. Lt. Spivey of the Carolina Beach Police Dept. said Terrance Christopher Miller was taken out by a rip current around 5:30 p.m. on Saturday evening. Officials said he was not swimming that far out in the ocean. Simon Sanders, the Ocean Rescue Supervisor, said Miller is in his early 20's and from the Wilmington area. According to Sanders, Miller was swimming near Texas Avenue between two lifeguard stands. Sanders said a lifeguard witnessed Miller go under and did not see him resurface. Search efforts including approximately 20 lifeguards, three rescue boats, and a helicopter began almost immediately.
I was the actually the first guard who went in for the rescue. Saw the guy when I entered the water, when I got out he was gone. Guard in the stand saw a wave go over him and he never came back up
Brutal sequence. Props to you, banman, for going out there very day to make it safer for all. So, what happens.....does the guy go under, draw in water, choke, keep sinking, done? Not being glib here, just wondering how a person disappears so effing fast. No wonder the guards (the good ones) watch the ocean swimmers & waders like hawks from their perches. Say what you will about the guards giving tickets & all of that, but frankly, they have a tough job to start with & it's made tougher by politics & stupid human beach behavior that is likely often influenced by drugs & alcohol.
Thanks man I appreciate it. I didn't have eyes on when he went under, but the 2nd guard who was in my stand was advising over the radio and watching through the binos said he was swimming normally towards shore, wasn't "climbing the ladder" or anything, and when a wave broke over him he just never came back up...no way to know exactly why he didn't come up. It really freaked him out that this guy disappeared in a split second. As soon as the guy went under my other guard radioed for ems and rushed out, but we couldnt find him. Stayed out in the water for almost two hours searching the bottom, but to no avail.
Yeah the older guards have been around when it has happened before, and we did all we could, but it really is the worst feeling in the world knowing this guy drowned while you were only 30 yards away. I always knew the ocean is powerful, but it makes you look at it differently after going through that.
in sea girt the grunt guards defer to the head guard who wins arguments by yammering about superstition.
Gonna third or fourth the props here. Wouldn't be surprised if alcohol were involved. Hey banman, just out of curiosity, what were the conditions like when all of this occurred?
Maybe the booze was involved, but there could be other factors involved that they wont know about until they find him... Just saying, its spring, its CB and there are plenty of big fish in the water. Very well could have received a tug and not come back up. Not saying he got swallowed whole, but to duck under a wave and not to re-appear, not to float or anything is mighty strange... Super sad though... You guards are fighting the good fight... The conditions down here were insane. I surfed for about 2 hours yesterday, start at port royal and drifted south about 1.5 miles in less than 45 minutes. Then I had to walk my 9'3 up the beach with 30MPH north winds howling... The waves were super fun, about chest+ but there was water moving everywhere. Tons of people were still out in the water and I was just thinking, man this is going to be a nightmare for the guards today... We actually got called out of the first stretch of beach we paddled out in. Teenage guy was like yeah, this is swim zone, yada yada, try down there... we walked down 100 yards and approach two hot young blonde guards. I said, you mind if we paddle out here and we just drift down. They replied, of course man, have fun... So the spirits were good with the guards and all in all, they were worried about the right things. I will have to see how many rescues took place down here. I have NEVER seen the water so rough in the summer time. 81 degree water so EVERYBODY was up in it, even with all the turbulence.... So, if CB was anything like that, I could see some bad things happening.
We had light offshores yesterday morning, but there was a significant easterly drift...to the point where we all pretty much gave up fighting it, drifted and hit peaks along the way, and did the walk back up the beach. Which is weird b/c if there is any drift it's usually the opposite direction, maybe it was the East in the swell...anyway, water moving around, with chest high sets, and regular humans first beach day all added up can mean a bad time for some folks.
