This a sad blog post…It’s almost midnight Thursday evening and I am listening to the sound of a helicopter flying back and forth and back and forth across the beach. I know it’s a helicopter with two huge bright searchlights and it is scanning the water and the shoreline between Belmar and Asbury Park.
I was having dinner in Asbury Park with my cousin and her husband and his brother and wife. A totally delightful meal on the second level of Stella Marina which is right on the Boardwalk. Eventually our conversation led to some local news and of course the inevitable talk of Hurricane Earl. For 4 days now there has been constant talk of the impending storm accompanied by harsh warnings of possible rip tides! It has been on every news station and the radio too. The beaches are open and there are life guards on duty BUT you can’t go in the water, the rip tides and undertow are too dangerous. For 4 days I have looked at the double red flags flying on the beach which mean NO SWIMMING! Yet warnings go unheeded and there is nothing more brash and self-confident than youth and so on Tuesday evening a young man of 23 went into the water in Asbury Park after the life guards had left duty. That was the last time he was seen alive, about 30 yards offshore and in about 10 feet of water. Divers and coast guard searched for hours until the rough conditions in the water made it dangerous for them and visibility was zero. Wednesday morning the search began again and once again the rough water called a halt to the search. This morning the body was spotted and was brought in. Tonight, from our table in the restaurant we saw several people gathered below with candles on the boardwalk near where the body was found. This was the first drowning in 5 years in Asbury Park.
That was bad enough and then we saw and heard the helicopter traversing the beach and water in a clearly deliberate path. We must have seen him fly by a dozen times. On our walk back to Ocean Grove, we learned that the search was for a missing swimmer from Belmar. Why you ask yourself, is ANYONE swimming in the ocean at night at time and place that are clearly in the path of the storm and whose presence as distant as it still is, has been wrecking havoc with our tides and waves?
So here I am typing away and hearing the humming roar of the rotor blades as the pilot makes another sweep and another sweep desperately looking for the swimmer who went into the water with 7 other friends; four of who were able to get out of the water by themselves and 3 others needed assistance to get out of the surf. The 20 year old youth was reported as a person in distress in the water by Belmar Police to the Coast Guard.
A rescue boat crew from the Coast Guard Station and a Coast Guard helicopter were dispatched and are still on the scene hoping to locate the young man from North Jersey.
But it’s already been over 4 hours and so when exactly does Search and Rescue become Search and Recovery? How sad, how foolish and how so very unnecessary to lose another life to a storm that’s not even here yet!
Maybe the Sign Should Be BIGGER??
Bill Ding and his band of clowns are the security patrol for this blog site. He is a favorite toy from the 50*s. By the way sometimes a blog is just an ego-maniacal stream of conscience.
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