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Rip currents blamed for drowning in Ormond Beach surf; rip warnings issued countywide for today

ORMOND BEACH — Rip currents were blamed for a 55-year-old tourist’s drowning Saturday, the Volusia County Beach Patrol said.

Philip Standley, 55, of Noblesville, Ind., was swimming in waist-deep water with his brother when they got caught in a rip current, Beach Patrol Capt. Scott Petersohn said of the 3 p.m. incident near the Granada Avenue Approach.

A lifeguard rescued him and broght him back to shore in the care of bystanders, because she had to go back out and save his brother, too. While she was rescuing the brother, Standley stopped breathing and was pronounced dead on arrival at Florida Hospital Memorial Medical Center in Daytona Beach.

Standley’s death is the fourth drowning fatality in Volusia beaches so far this year.

In all, lifeguards made 30 rescues Saturday, including one in Ormond-by-the-Sea where they literally drove several miles to get to the swimmer because no lifeguards are posted up there, Petersohn said.

He said rip currents could be a problem Sunday as well.

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Surfer survives 14 hours at sea

October 25th, 2009

When John Baker III stepped into the water at surfside, he never expected it would be nearly 14 hours and 14 miles later before he could get out. He found himself stuck in currents he couldn?t avoid.

THE WOODLANDS, Texas — When John Baker III stepped into the water at surfside, he never expected it would be nearly 14 hours and 14 miles later before he could get out.  He found himself stuck in currents he couldn’t avoid.

“[It was] because of the turbulence at the end of the jetty and the fact that I couldn’t cross that rip current again,” said Baker.

Baker had been surfing for over 40 years.  He’s a former Coast Guard man who knows the water. He also used to organize rescues.

But on Friday, he needed one of those rescues himself.

“I left here about 10:30 Thursday morning got down to Surfside around noon,” said Baker.

Baker had driven from his Woodlands home to Surfside hoping to catch some good waves, but he quickly found himself in an area by the jetties and he couldn’t get out.

“I paddled for about an hour and it was very obvious I wasn’t making any headway,” said Baker.

Baker says the currents kept pushing him away from shore.  At about 4 p.m., he saw a boat from a rig pass by but the crew didn’t see him in the water.

By 8 p.m., it started getting dark and he was worried about hypothermia.  He had a wet suit on and he kept paddling on his surf board to keep his core temperature up.

At 10 p.m., he spotted an oil rig.  He was now about 10 miles from shore and estimated the rig was about four miles away.

He started counting his strokes. He would paddle 30 times; then rest for a minute before starting the process again.  Each hour he increased his strokes to stay warm — paddling 40 times, then 50 times before allowing himself to rest for a minute in between.

“I knew a helicopter would be out there at first light. I knew I had to survive the night, and if I could, in order to save myself, I had to get to the rig,” said Baker.

By 2 a.m., Baker reached the rig.  He found a rope to hang on to and when the water surged, he used it get as high as possible onto a nearby ladder.

Then he had to climb up the rig.

“By that time, I realized how tired I was,” said Baker.

After climbing into the rig, he climbed a flight of stairs and finally reached a door that he thought was locked.  He banged on the door calling for help.  No one answered.

“I just happened to pull on the knob and opened it,” Baker said, his voice cracking with emotion. By that time, it had been 14 hours since he first started out and it was only then that he knew he had reached safety.

Two men were on the rig and heard Baker come in. They gave him food, a place to warm up and a phone to call his wife of 30 years, Geneva Baker.

Geneva had alerted authorities when Baker hadn’t come home and the Coast Guard was out looking for him.  Finally, around 2:30 a.m., her phone rang.

“She answers her cell phone and I said are you looking for me?” said Baker.

“And I went, ‘John where are you?’ I thought he was washed up on a beach somewhere half way to Galveston,” said Baker’s wife.

Then this former Coast Guard man made one last strategic decision.  He decided not to leave the rig that night, despite the offer from the Coast Guard to pick him up.

“The Coast Guard goes out when your life’s at risk,” Baker said.  “I told them to take those guys home. Call it a day. I’ll make arrangements in the morning.”

“When the Coast Guard called me back and said that he had opted not to come off, I said, ‘What?’” said Geneva Baker, laughing at the memory.

But when the Coast Guard explained to her that John was worried about their safety at night she said, “That sounds just like John. That’s something he would say.”

John does have one regret. He left his surf board at sea to climb the rig.

“I sure miss that board. If someone finds it, I wouldn’t mind having it back.”

Despite his ordeal, Baker says he can’t wait to hit the surf again.

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ST. JOHNS COUNTY, Fla. — A Crescent City man in his 60s seeking to beat the heat at a St. Johns County Beach drowned after being caught in a rip current, according to St. Johns Sheriff’s Deputies.

Investigators said a couple were standing in a shallow area off of Crescent Beach when they were caught in a rip current which took both of them into deeper water.

Authorities said Ronald Herron began to explain to the woman how to escape from a rip current when he himself went beneath the surface. Deputies told Channel 4 the woman made it to shore and, when she couldn’t find her male companion, called 911.

Surfers located the Herron after a brief search in the area and brought him ashore, where they started CPR. Firefighters took over the life saving measures when they arrived on scene shortly thereafter and transported Herron to Flagler Hospital, where he was pronounced dead a short time later.

“We didn’t see any movement at all when he was on the beach,” beachgoer Lisa Tinnerman said. “We honestly didn’t think he would survive because we saw no signs of life.”

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PANAMA CITY BEACH — A rough day on Bay County beaches ended in tragedy Friday night when a man’s body washed ashore.

The man, who is believed to be in his late 40s, was in the Gulf of Mexico near the 23000 block of Front Beach Road about 6 p.m. when he and a female companion got into trouble, officials said. The woman was able to make it back to shore, but the man could not, witnesses at the scene said.

Law enforcement officials said the man was calling for help while trying to stay afloat 75 to 100 yards from shore. However, it was unclear Friday night if the man purposely swam out that far or if he was snatched out by a rip current.

Betty Sanders was watching from her balcony at Pirate Cove Villas.

“I heard somebody hollering for help,” Sanders said. Several men at the scene tried to get a garden hose to the man to pull him back in, but he was too far out, she added.

“I watched him till I couldn’t see him any longer,” Sanders said.

Rescue workers searched the water and called in the Coast Guard and the Bay County Sheriff’s Office helicopter for assistance.

About an hour after he went missing, the man’s body washed ashore and rescue workers attempted to revive him using CPR, but it was no use, said BCSO Sgt. John Sumerall. The man’s identity was not released Friday night because his family had not been notified.

Red flags had been flying all day, but as daylight waned, more and more swimmers began getting into trouble, officials said.

“Today the surf was extremely strong,” Sumerall said. “We were actually in the process of changing the flags from red to double-red because of the high volume of rescues that we had.”

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PANAMA CITY BEACH — Two men died in the gulf Monday during red flag conditions generated by a storm system that moved through earlier in the day.

Beach police said 46-year-old Glen Merideth, believed to be an off-duty sheriff’s deputy from Louisville, Ky., began struggling around 6 p.m. Monday.

“His wife and kids and another deputy were on the beach with him and they looked up and he was floating,” said Beach Police Maj. David Humphreys. “Double red flags were flying.”

Merideth was pronounced dead at the scene.

A single red flag was flying a few hours earlier when a Tennessee man was found dead in the gulf.

Mark Mays, 43, a husband and father who was visiting the area with his family, was seen floating in the water just before 4 p.m., some 100 yards behind the Carillon Beach Resort on the west end of Panama City Beach, Bay County Sheriff’s Office spokeswoman Ruth Corley said.

Mays’ wife had last heard from him 30 minutes earlier, Corley said.

Sheriff’s deputies arrived at the scene five minutes after a 911 call, Corley said. By then, Mays was floating in knee-deep water.

He apparently had been staying at the Pinnacle Port, about a quarter mile away from the scene.

Earlier Monday, the state Division of Emergency Management issued a rip currents warning and urged beachgoers to be careful. Beach police said the warning flags were double-red Monday morning.

“We did have red flags flying today, and there were rip currents out there, but we do not know if that’s what happened to him,” Corley said of the dangerous currents.

She said Mays’ death was believed to be the year’s first drowning on a Bay County-maintained beach.

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2002

July 21: Jakada Brooks, 11, of Muskegon, is swept to his death “by a strong undertow” at Muskegon’s Pere Marquette Park.

Aug. 12: Marco Delgado, 16, of Muskegon, drowns offshore from Pere Marquette Park. Waves were reported to be up to 5 feet, and strong offshore currents were present. A sheriff’s department report says “waves moved him 200 to 300 yards.”

2003

July 4: Seven people drown along a three-mile stretch of Berrien County shore after thunderstorms with 50 mph winds churned dangerous rip currents. Roland Rodriguez, 15; Ismael Gonzalez, 22; and Marcos Reynoso, 25, all of Chicago, died trying to save a boy who was rescued by others. Nearby: Randall Farmer, 44, of Chicago, drowns at Bethany Beach; Bruce Chapman, 57, and his wife, Judith, 66, of Sawyer, drown at Cherry Beach; and Mark Weiss, 59, of Chicago, drowns at Harbert Beach. Police believe one of the Chapmans was trying to save the other.

Aug. 20: Scott Allen Smith, 17, of Spring Lake, is pulled under waves after diving off Grand Haven’s south pier and trying to swim to the beach. Two others with Smith unsuccessfully tried to save him.

Sept. 3: Andy Fox, a 17-year-old Grand Haven High School senior, drowns while swimming along the Grand Haven pier. Fox and a friend were swimming after classes when bystanders noticed the teens were struggling. Rescuers pulled the friend to safety, but rip currents swept Fox into deeper water.

Nov. 29: Daniel Reiss, 19, a Grand Valley State University sophomore from Grand Haven, was among eight young people on the Grand Haven pier when he was swept off by a large wave. Rip currents pulled him into deeper water. The tragedy led to life rings, donated by Reiss’ mother, being placed along the pier.

2005

July 18: Aaron West, 19, of Grand Ledge, disappears while swimming with friends in 3- to 5-foot waves at P.J. Hoffmaster State Park, near Muskegon. Red flags were flying onshore. He was found by a Coast Guard helicopter about two hours later, 150 yards from where he last was seen.

July 24: Jiang Wei Lim, 20, a Michigan State University student from Malaysia, disappears while swimming on the south side of the south breakwall at Pere Marquette Park in Muskegon. Red flags were flying onshore. Waves were 5 to 6 feet, and strong rip currents were present.

Aug. 10: Marino Akhavong, 9, of Holland Township, drowns while swimming with friends near the north pier at Holland State Park. The park was flying yellow flags to warn of rip current danger.

Aug. 27: Juan Lopez, 21, of Chicago, drowns offshore from Warren Dunes State Park in Sawyer. The Coast Guard says rip currents were strong.

2006

July 4: David Ni, 16, of Mattawan, drowns about 50 yards offshore near South Haven’s north pier. Police said 4- to 7-foot waves and a strong undertow caused the death. A teenager with Ni was rescued.

July 4: Debra King, 43, of Grand Junction, drowns at Warren Dunes State Park after reportedly being pulled under by strong currents.

July 9: Mark Graves, 37, of Cedar Springs, drowns at North Beach Park in Ferrysburg. Shortly beforehand, a young girl was rescued from strong currents by surfers. Waves were 3 to 6 feet.

July 18: Carlos Fabian-Zoto Pedraza, 28, of South Bend, Ind., drowns at Lions Park Beach in St. Joseph. Waves were 2 to 4 feet. The Coast Guard reported rip currents in the area.

2007

June 18: David Lambert, 20, of Elkhart, Ind., drowns after jumping off the Silver Beach pier at Benton Harbor. Witnesses said he was swept away. Police rescued four other people the same day, two who jumped off the same pier and two near the beach.

July 11: Kyle Bartlett, 15, of Laingsburg, drowns while swimming with a friend at Manistee’s Fifth Avenue Beach. “They were out bobbing around in the waves, and he got caught in the rip current,” Police Chief David Bachman said. Waves were 4 to 6 feet.

July 19: Luke Laudolff, 10, of Batavia, Ill., drowns while swimming with two other youths at Douglas Beach near Douglas, where the family was vacationing. A father was able to rescue two of the children, but Laudolff went under the waves.

2008

July 17: Chiara Wysong Howard, 9, is pulled to her death in Grand Haven Township. She was wading in water up to her knees when a wave knocked her off-balance and a current took her to deeper water. Her younger sister and two older brothers survived.

2009

July 26: Karl-Heinz Becker, 57, of Granger, Ind., drowns off Warren Dunes State Park. Authorities say the beach had been prominently “red flagged” before Becker went for a swim.

Aug. 1: Martin

Jordan, 45,

of St. Charles, Ill., drowns near the South Haven pier while leading five young relatives to safety from strong rip currents.

NOTE:National Weather Service compilations come from published reports on drownings associated with strong currents. They may not be complete.

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A 10-year-old boy drowned Saturday afternoon at Fort Fisher State Recreation Area, and rescue workers at other area beaches said rip currents were the cause of several other near-drownings.

Just after 4 p.m., after a two-hour search off the beach of Fort Fisher, the U.S. Coast Guard located the boy in the surf. The boy was not conscious. He was transported to New Hanover Regional Medical Center, where a doctor pronounced him dead, said Deputy Charles Smith of the New Hanover County Sheriff’s Office.

Lifeguards at Fort Fisher reported about 2 p.m. that three swimmers were in distress. The lifeguards rescued two adults who were swimming with the boy, but the boy was missing in the water, Smith said.

The search included officials with the Coast Guard, the sheriff’s office and a number of local police and rescue units. The Wilmington Police Department’s SABLE helicopter flew overhead and there were at least three search boats in the waters.

Coast Guard members located the boy’s body from a helicopter and sent a diver into the water to retrieve him. After bringing the boy to shore, rescue workers tried to revive him while family members sat in a circle on the beach, just in front of the rescue vehicle, in prayer.

Hundreds of bystanders at the state park huddled while they watched the rescue. Officials made sure people didn’t enter the water while the search was under way.

Smith said the boy’s parents were taken to the hospital. Officials were withholding the boy’s name pending notification of other family members.

Near-drownings and ocean rescues were reported at other New Hanover County beaches.

Cpl. Simon Sanders, of Carolina Beach Ocean Rescue, said one woman was transported to the hospital at about 5 p.m. after she was rescued from a rip current near the Oystershell Lane beach access. He said the woman had a pulse, but he did not have information about her condition.

He said lifeguards on duty were flying red flags to signal rip current danger and advise swimmers to use caution.

Kure Beach Ocean Rescue director Tom Cannon said lifeguards had rescued a handful of swimmers caught in rip currents Saturday, but he said none of the rescued individuals had serious injuries.

At the beginning of the tourist season, budget cuts had forced Fort Fisher to eliminate its lifeguards.

But in one rough weekend, Kure Beach lifeguards repeatedly responded to emergencies at Fort Fisher, Some eventually remained stationed at Fort Fisher.

But that left Kure Beach understaffed, so town officials and concerned residents lobbied state legislators to put lifeguards back on Fort Fisher, and on June 6, the lifeguards returned.

Earlier this season, an Ohio woman died after being caught in a rip current at Kure Beach.

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The body of a Brooklyn man who disappeared off the Rockaways while trying to save his friend washed up on the beach Thursday morning, his heartbroken family told the Daily News.

Anthony Bolden, 21, was swimming in the surf off Jacob Riis ParkMonday night when he saw his friend struggling in a powerful rip current.

Bolden tried to fight through the treacherous water to reach his pal but was overcome himself – and soon vanished under the waves.

“I believe he went straight to heaven,” said his uncle Luther Bolden. “I’m so proud of him because not everyone would make that same decision to help.”

An intensive search effort that deployed NYPD boats and scuba teams could not locate Bolden either Tuesday or Wednesday, but a jogger spotted the body on the beach at 6:30 a.m. Thursday.

Hours later, Bolden’s tearful mother Sheila confirmed to police that the corpse was her son.

“She is distraught,” said Luther Bolden. “She is … about to lose her mind over this.”

Anthony Bolden, who just accepted a job assisting passengers in wheelchairs at Kennedy Airport, would have celebrated his birthday tomorrow – but now his mother has to plan his funeral, relatives said.

“She doesn’t know how she’ll afford to bury her own son,” said Luther Bolden, 42. “It’s so tragic.”

Hours before Bolden disappeared near the Rockaways coast, 56-year-old Michael Mathleson died apparently of a heart attack while fighting strong currents off Breezy Point. Two other people drowned in the waters off the Rockaways earlier this summer, and officials suspect that strong rip currents played a role in both deaths.

One person died off the coast in the Rockaways last summer, city officials said.

Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/ny_local/2009/08/07/2009-08-07_beach_rescuer_body_is_found.html#ixzz0Sww8exRx

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GALVESTON — A man who drowned Sunday in a rip current off a Galveston pier has yet to be identified, prompting an appeal to the public to learn the man’s name, authorities said Monday.

The man, possibly Hispanic and in his 20s, stood 6 feet tall and weighed 180 pounds. He had short, black hair with gray sides and many distinguishing tattoos, John Florence, a spokesman with the Galveston County Medical Examiner’s Office, said.

“One was a dragon-type tattoo on his back, and he had the Virgin Mary on his left shoulder,” Florence said. “There was the letter A in Old English on his left hand, plus he had numerous tattoos on his legs and arms and the word ‘Aziel.’”

The man, who had been on a Boogie Board, was found at the end of the 29th Street pier and pronounced dead at 5:12 p.m. The cause of his death was ruled drowning, pending a toxicology exam, Florence said.

The man had the board’s leash wrapped around his wrist, rather than using an easily removable Velcro strip, Galveston Island Beach Patrol Chief Peter Davis said.

“It was tied around his wrist five times, and was a major contributor to him drowning,” Davis said. “When the board became wedged between the rocks and with the current pulling him sideways, he was unable to stay afloat.”

The longshore current, estimated at 10 mph, created strong rip currents around the piers, hampering recovery efforts that lasted about 50 minutes, Davis said.

“The current was too strong for even our good swimmers to maintain for very long with fins,” Davis said.

Two lifeguards, who suffered lacerations when they were slammed into the rock pier, returned to work Monday, Davis said.

If no one comes forward with the man’s name, the medical examiner would attempt to identify him with fingerprints, Florence said.

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A St. Charles man who drowned Saturday in Lake Michigan while leading several young relatives to safety is being remembered as a kind man who enjoyed life and was quick to organize benefits to help the families of several friends who had died prematurely.

Martin Jordan, 45, vacationed every summer in South Haven, Mich., with his wife, Maureen, and three children, said his sister-in-law, Kathy Davila. Jordan had been in Michigan for two days when he and five young family members became caught early Saturday evening in strong rip currents while swimming near a pier.

“The wind changed and picked up and the water became violently rough,” Davila said. “He immediately started pushing the kids to the ladder of the pier. His niece said she could feel his hand by her back, pushing her. The last thing he said before he died was, ‘Swim for your life.’ “

Jordan did not survive, despite resuscitation efforts.

“I don’t know whether it was a loss of energy, panic, the force of the water and the waves or just probably exhaustion,” Davila said.

South Haven police are investigating but noted that paramedics had responded to two earlier cases on Saturday of swimmers in rough water. South Haven police now are asking beachgoers to stay out of Lake Michigan when there are high waves and heavy rip currents.

Born and raised in Chicago’s Austin neighborhood, Martin Jordan graduated from St. Patrick’s High School and Illinois State University, and spent his entire 25-year  career working in group homes with teens, said his brother, Dan.

He also helped plan benefits for friends who needed assistance, including for relatives of friends who had died young, Davila said.

“Now his friends are thinking of doing the same thing for his wife and his three kids,” she said.