Water rescue highlights need for rip current awareness

“Rip currents, they don't judge.”

These are the words, spoken by Longboat Key Fire Rescue Department deputy chief Sandi Drake, that are perhaps most important to consider. Rip currents can snag swimmers of any level of ability, so experienced beachgoers shouldn’t believe they’re immune.

A man and his teenage son learned this the hard way March 6, when Drake rescued them from a rip current near the Longboat Key Club and Sands Point condos.

“We don't have lifeguards on Longboat Key,” Drake said. “Any type of currents in general that are rough seas can pull anybody under within a few seconds.”

When 911 is alerted of the need for a water rescue, the Longboat Key fire department dispatches a boat from the south station. However, it often takes the crew a while to get to the boat, change into new gear and lower the boat into the water. (A second boat is dispatched by either Sarasota or Manatee county, depending on where the rescue will occur.) Often times, a fire truck and ambulance will also travel to the scene to see what they might be able to spot or do from the land.

In this case, Drake just happened to be at the St. Armands fire station. When she arrived at the scene, she couldn’t see the beach well from her vehicle, so she asked dispatch for an updated location; Drake didn’t want to get out of the vehicle, start putting on the rescue equipment and then find out the current had whisked them further away. And in fact, the current had moved the father and son from the area near 100 Sands Point Road to the 220 block.

After driving to the correct location, she found out that one member of the family was safely on shore, but the father had gone into the water to help his teenage son. Drake saw them standing on a sandbar but struggling to find their way back. The situation was still urgent.

Longboat Key police officer Craig Smith, who was also on the scene, wanted to get a board for Drake to use during the rescue. But there wasn’t enough time.

“I know the boat’s coming from a ways,” Drake said. “So I just told officer [Smith] to have my radio so he can communicate with Chief Dezzi, who I knew was on his way, and went out there with a [personal flotation device] and then swam out to them.

“You just don’t think. You just go. … Your training jumps in as far as what you’re supposed to do.”

After reaching the pair, Drake took off the PFD, gave it to the boy and helped him swim to shore. The dad followed suit. They were OK, but they definitely learned a lesson about the need to be aware of rip currents — no matter how strong of a swimmer you are.

“They [were] having fun,” Drake said. “[But] it's a rough current. That was the thing. If you can feel the currents, then you can feel it's rough. And you don't know. You just don't know.”