STONE HARBOR – At the June 7 Stone Harbor Borough Council meeting, Beach Patrol Capt. Sandy Bosacco reported on unusually strong rip tides.
Borough emergency personnel had rescued three swimmers off the 96th Street beach the day prior. The rip currents were so strong that even the rescuers who entered the water were brought back to shore by a wave runner, according to Fire Chief Roger Stanford.
One contributing factor to this season’s rip tide strength is the amount of offshore sand creating peaks and valleys that concentrate the water flow in certain areas, strengthening the current. Much of that offshore sand was lost from borough beaches during the Mother’s Day storm. One estimate from the borough’s coastal consultant Douglas Gaffney is that the municipality’s beaches lost more than 200,000 cubic yards of sand during the multiday storm event.
Bosacco said the Beach Patrol was alert to the dangers posed by the rip tides and swimmers are being kept closer to shore as a precautionary measure. He urged people to only swim where there is lifeguards present.
Both Bosacco and Stanford pointed to the loss of life in Wildwood where the body of a 19-year-old swimmer was recovered just days before the Stone Harbor meeting. A second drowning occurred the afternoon of June 7 off Wildwood Crest, placing added emphasis on the need for caution.
