Great

WaterKook · Posted: Mon Aug 31, 2009 7:08 am Post subject: Great

Boardsailors rescued off West Dennis Beach

August 31, 2009 DENNIS — Firefighters plucked a husband and wife from dangerous surf off West Dennis Beach Saturday night, a fire official said.

Just after 7 p.m., a shift in wind and a rain squall, remnants of Tropical Storm Danny, pushed Jessica Delong, 28, off her sailboard, Dennis Fire Lt. Donald Babineau said. Her husband, Jason Delong, 38, left his own sailboard and attempted to swim out to her, but also got caught. The surf had jumped from 1 foot to 3-4 feet in a matter of minutes, Babineau said.

"It was like life was on a dimmer switch" as the couple struggled 500 yards offshore, Babineau said. A fog bank was rolling in and time was running out, he said. "We had a few minutes to spare and the outcome would have been drastically different I fear."

The Delongs, visiting from Brookline, were pulled from the water by firefighters Ed Gula and Vincent Raspante. The Delongs were checked out on shore and did not require a trip to the hospital, Babineau said.

wavedawg · Joined: 30 Apr 2001 Posts: 130

"Life was on a dimmer switch"???!!!! "Dangerous surf" doesnt occur at WD!!!!

Can someone who was there please tell us what really happened?? The escalating drama brought forth with each "rescue" situation is leading in the direction of beach closures every time the wind cranks up enough to sail!!!

The wind shift was forcast - these people should have been off the water before it hit.

outcast · Joined: 04 May 2004 Posts: 2724

Dude is an emergency room doc.....has probably saved a life or two, so we'll call it even.

heres my imaginary scenario.
she goes out, wind gets all flukey....can't get back....wind ramps up on the offshore NW......he doesn't want to watch and so he joins the party....rescue boat shows up while they are trying to figure it all out.

Now if he had a SUP in the truck......

scooper · Joined: 28 May 1987 Posts: 537 Location: Massachusettes

What the **** is going on?! I couldn't believe that someone wearing a drysuit in the Summer had to get recued from Chapin! Now this!

I was at W Dennis a little after the squall went thru and I was bored because of it was so flat. There was no surf, just the usual little chop, and a few microscopic waves at S Village and in front of Lighthouse Inn.

ron.c · Joined: 30 Oct 2004 Posts: 1460

I bet it was getting pretty dark that night by 7

RC

wavedawg · Joined: 30 Apr 2001 Posts: 130

I'm thinkin' the newspaper is trying to sell copies, and the rescue dude is trying to protect his job by telling the news reporter how dangerous it was and boy were they lucky they didnt cut my job so i could rescue these people, who surely would have died otherwise.
Thanx for giving us the REAL scoop steve!

scooper · Joined: 28 May 1987 Posts: 537 Location: Massachusettes

Hey, I didn't notice the 7:00 time. The squall I was thinking of was around 4:00. It hit 53 MPH on Kalmus meter very briefly, W Dennis shows about 30 MPH but it might have been more briefly. I felt it on the highway and drove to W Dennis to try to catch some of it. It was a few hours after low tide, straight onshore wind, very safe.

The wind dropped around 6:30 and almost everyone packed up and left. There was 1 kiter and 1 windsurfer out schlogging when I left. IWindsurf shows a wind jump and shift to offshore direction at 7:45 but that is after sunset. Also, offshore winds don't generate chop (3-4 surf). Something doesn't add up.

bates · Joined: 25 May 2004 Posts: 301

It was a hell of a wind change in RI, from like 20mph sideshore to 5mph offshore. Myself and another windsurfer had to swim our windsurf kits back in through the surf. 3 kiters had their kites fall out of the sky. One kiter got far out with the light offshore breeze, CG was called, paddleboarder got to him first and helped tow him in before the orange inflatables arrived. All experienced people, we all knew it was coming too.