Submersions

by Kailey Aiken

This weekend, like many others, came with a few false-alarm submersions. However, it unfortunately also came with one legitimate one, which is always a sad day for our community.

Last Friday, a man drowned on Beach 17th Street just after 6 p.m. Witnesses reported seeing him go under after calling for help. Lifeguards from all areas of Rockaway responded to perform a submersion dive to search for the man. FDNY and NYPD also responded to the scene, as well as water rescue units from Atlantic Beach. As we go to press, the victim has not yet been recovered.

Beach 17th Street is an old, extremely dangerous, beach due to the sudden drop off in the channel, where I’m told the water depth reaches around 35 feet. This depth, coupled with the strong currents of the channel, can make for a disaster without lifeguards on duty.

A “submersion” is our protocol for when we have a person who is reported to be missing and last seen in the water or suspected or confirmed to have been last seen in the water.

The lifeguards form a horizontal line, perpendicular to the shoreline, and sweep the sand for the victim. When the water is shallow enough to stand, we sweep with our feet, and once it is deeper, we dive and sweep with our hands.

Earlier on Friday, we closed beaches for thunder and lightning. As we packed up our things and trekked to the safety of the shack, 97 Shack received a call for manpower from 86 Shack for a submersion. We all ran/biked over and joined the lifeguards in the water to start diving. As the rain intensified and the wind picked up, the difficulty of our dive increased. The backsplash from the waves made being out of the water even worse than staying under. Fortunately, that missing man was found near the concessions, alive and well, and we were able to return to our shacks.

Lastly, we had an after-hours submersion on Beach 117th on Saturday. A woman approached a lifeguard leaving the shack saying she hadn’t seen her friend in hours, and the last time she saw her was in the water. Lifeguards from all over Rockaway responded once again, and we swept from jetty to jetty between Beach 115th and 120th. After around 30 minutes, the woman was found in Pickles and Pies.

Nine times out of 10, we perform a submersion drill out of an abundance of caution. That being said, it’s always important to take these drills seriously as we cannot be certain when it will be a false alarm or not.