On Sunday the dive
team answered a request for our services. A call was made for the team to
search the beachs for storm debris
before the start of the swimming season. We were asked to search the shallow
waters along the shore for large debris and to remove it.
A plan was made and
the call went out for divers, it was a good turnout. We had ten divers and six
first aiders show up ready to go to work. We had three trucks on the beach to
carry all the dive gear and diver up and down the beach. This made it a lot
easier on the divers and saved us a ton of walking.
The weather was on our side, with sunny skies
and waves no bigger than three feet and warm temperatures, not to hot and not
to cold!
We put our rescue
boat ( rescue 34 ) in the water to ward off wayward boaters and to give surface
support to the divers if needed. Tom C. was our coxswain for the day and did a
great job. Once rescue 34 got on location we started our search at the foot of
broadway.
The plan was for the two divers to go out to
between eight and fourteen feet and search swimming south. The search was done
on the high tide so even at low tide the area search would be the area used by
swimmers. The first team was Joe S. and Tom T. With the water temperatures at
44 and a pretty good surge running also a current running to the north at just
under a knot each team was going to be in the water only a little over a half
hour.
Tom and Joe got the
ball rolling covering over two city blocks, at the end of the dive tom T. got
in the boat with tom C. to be on hand if tom C. needed the help. They did run
into some small debris pockets, but nothing that would be a risk to swimmers.
It was also moving with the current.
As teams were getting
in and out of the water and gearing up it was the training that both the first
aiders and divers had that made it look easy. Everyone helping each other, as
divers came out of the water they were helped up the beach to the back of jerry
truck and sat down and their gear was removed and the next team was briefed by
the first team and geared up and helped into the water.
The second team was
Sue L. and Ali B. and they showed up the guys today. They covered right up to
jenks main building. The first pair of divers were hard to spot from the beach
so Sue and Ali were send in with a surface float which made it easier for the
shore people to see them. When they came out they reported no debris at all.
Joe S. and Bob S.
were the next team in and they covered the area from jenk’s main building to
pass martell’s. They also find no debris at all.
The last team in was
a solo dive done by Chet N. and he covered the last of the search area up to the
foot of Trenton ave. He also report no debris.
Many people came
up to us to find out what we were doing and every one took the time to tell them
what and why we were doing the search. It was a long day for everyone. To be in
a dry suit for 7 hours is not a good thing. The smell of all the food cooking
on the boardwalk had our mouths watering, but food had to wait . We had gear
and trucks to clean!
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