Many ocean rescues took place during the Labor Day weekend when 523,000 people visited Malibu beaches, seeking relief from scorching inland temperatures.
By Cortney Litwin/Staff Writer
World-renowned surfer Laird Hamilton and sheriff’s Deputy Jeff Sweet rescued a group of boaters floundering in the waters off Paradise Cove beside their capsized catamaran.
Sweet, who was off duty, said he was on the beach at about 3 p.m. when he saw a sheriff’s helicopter circling around a watercraft, about a mile- and-a-half from shore.
“I got on the Jet Ski and made my way out with my friend [Laird] who was on a windsurfer,” Sweet said.
Laird was already in the water and met Sweet at the catamaran.
“There was a male and a female in the water and two males hanging onto the boat,” Sweet continued.
He and Laird climbed onto the boat and turned it over. “They were very thankful,” Sweet said. “They would have been there a long time.”
The boaters were able to sail back to shore.
Two kayakers at Zuma Beach were also rescued on Sunday. “They were struggling and out too far, and didn’t know what they were doing,” said Lifeguard Capt. Nick Steers, who is stationed at Zuma.
“Some people are inexperienced in the water,” Sweet added. “When you take anything into the water, you have to be prepared for what will happen, not just what might happen.”
“We had a record crowd yesterday,” Steers said of the number of beachgoers packed into Malibu beaches during Labor Day weekend. “PCH was a parking lot. There were tons and tons and tons of people.”
During the three-day holiday, Malibu lifeguards performed 179 rescues and 8,355 preventions. First aids totaled 127, from bee stings and lacerations to possible cervical injuries from being tumbled around by waves. And an infant in a hand-held seat was transported to a hospital after falling out of the carrier and hitting her head on the pavement, said Steers.
Another rescue of a struggling swimmer took place in the waters off Corral Canyon Beach. Malibu residents Sid Dinow and Alexandria Nassikas were taking a walk when a woman came running toward them, yelling, ” ‘Please, there’s somebody in the water,’ ” Dinow said, in a phone interview.
He saw a fully clothed woman “just laying there, in pretty much shallow water, face down.” He pulled her out of the water as Nassikas called 911. The woman was taken to a hospital with a body temperature of 88 degrees, said Dinow.
Sweet summed up the events of the weekend accurately, saying, “People have to respect the ocean.”