Rip currents continue to wreak havoc

Sue Doyle

NEWPORT BEACH -- There was nothing unusual about the powerful rip current

near 56th Street that pulled five beachgoers out to sea Wednesday.

It was at the very same stretch of beach where a San Bernardino man was

swept away and drowned earlier this month.

On Wednesday, the five inexperienced swimmers found themselves in serious

trouble because they ventured into the ocean after the lifeguard station

-- near the 56th Street jetty that produces the rip current -- had closed

for the night, lifeguard officials said.

Only a dramatic early-evening rescue made by lifeguard Arnie Van Dyke,

who was making one last patrol of the beach, saved the lives of five

Inland Empire residents Wednesday.

Van Dyke was in his Jeep around 7 p.m. when he saw one man clinging to

the jetty. Two more people then emerged from the water and found respite

on the jetty while waves crashed their exhausted bodies against the

rocks.

Van Dyke ran into the water to rescue the swimmers and then saw the tops

of two women’s heads just below the surface.

One woman, her mouth open, was already unconscious. Van Dyke held her

head above the water as he pulled her to shore, and wrapped a buoy around

the other woman, who stumbled behind him.

“I know they feel lucky right now, but we all feel lucky,” Van Dyke said.

“That was the closest I’ve ever seen a person at the point of no return.”

Paramedics were on shore and took four of the survivors to nearby

hospitals for treatment. The survivors were Lee Nguyen, 19, of Rialto;

Julian Tran, 18, of Highland; Peter Lam, 20, of Colton; and Bich Vo, 19.

Authorities did not release the name of the fifth survivor, but she did

not require medical treatment.

Rip currents, small “rivers” that flow under the surface and out to sea,

are caused by channels formed in the sandy bottom of Newport’s beaches.

Most of the rescues made by Newport Beach lifeguards are the result of

rip currents.

When swimmers are caught in a rip current, they should swim parallel to

shore until they escape it, lifeguards said.

That day, a typical day at the beach, Van Dyke had already made six

general rescues of people who had overestimated their swimming abilities.

Green flags indicating safe swimming conditions were posted Wednesday and

the swells were small. But beachgoers should always use caution, Van Dyke

said.

‘It’s not a pool out here,” he said. “People can die.”

In fact, a lifeguard pulled one surfer from the water at 56th Street on

Thursday morning, after a rip current knocked him down. The surfer did

not require medical attention, said Lt. John Blauer of the Newport Beach

Fire and Marine Department.

“When we have guards on duty, they can see people in the water,” Blauer

said. “We can’t staff 24 hours a day. If you swim when a lifeguard isn’t

on duty, you run into these problems.”

Still, the rip currents have not scared people out of the ocean. The

beach at 56th Street on Thursday was crawling with swimmers, surfers and

sun worshipers.

Former Newport Beach resident Ken Honingford, 43, played on the sand with

his daughter Ashley, 5. He’s been surfing for 20 years and feels

confident about swimming around rip currents. But he doesn’t think people

with less experience should venture into the water.

“The waves are small and the water is warm, so people think it’s OK. But

it’s not,” Honingford said. “They try to out swim the currents and don’t

make it.”

One Newport Beach family was so elated to hear of the rescues, they

wanted to do something special about it. The Sabatino family of

Sabatino’s Lido Shipyard Sausage Co. wants to hold a special reunion for

the survivors and their families with the lifeguards.

“We were so moved by this that we wanted to do something nice for all of

them,” said Jimmy Sabatino.