State police offshore jet-ski recovery

A few weeks back the team was having their October meeting and got a call from the police telling us to stand by for a request from the New Jersey State police. A jet ski has over turned in the inlet and with a missing person.

    Since it was a meeting we had the whole team and was able to put two crew together, one for the search at the inlet and another crew for Rescue 34 (our 19 foot Rib, rescue boat boat). The crew for the boat would launch the boat and head for the inlet and the other crew would gear up for the inlet search.

    With a strong outgoing tide the jet-ski was pulled far off shore. The crew at the inlet waited to see if a in water search was needed. While the boat crew headed off shore. As the boat cleared the inlet we could see a boat about a mile offshore and headed towards it.

 We didn’t see the coast guard, so we kept heading to the boat we could see. It turned out to be a state police boat and as we got closer we could see the upside down jet-ski behind the boat. They were trying to turn it right side up but with the 4-6 swells were having a hard time.

   I told them we had divers on the boat and we could check to see if anyone was trapped under it and they asked if we could get the numbers off it. Diver Rich Gurry rolled off the boat and checked the jet-ski and got the numbers off it.

    Then the State police said they were going to try to tow it back in and with it upside down and that was going to be very hard. So we put Rich and new member Julia Brand in the water to turn it back up right. Once up right they got a tow line on the jet-ski and started for the inlet, which by now was a mile and a half away.

     With the ocean as rough as it was we told the state police we would stay with them in case anything happened (IE flip over, tow line break) By the time we got back to the inlet they knew the driver was safe and no one was in the water and the owner would meet them at the boat ramp at the foot of Bay ave.

   We follow behind them the whole way in and stayed with them until the jet-ski was on the trailer and out of the water. The state police did a get job getting the jet-ski and getting it back to the owner and they thanked us for our help.

    The owner told us the whole story about how it happened, he was going out the inlet and saw how rough the ocean was and tried to turn around and a wave hit him and rolled the jet-ski. With the out- going tide and the rough water at the end of the inlet they tried a few times to roll it back but couldn’t, so he jumped on his friends jet-ski and came back in.

    We didn’t get any pictures offshore because someone forgot the camera (ME). With as rough as it was we were kind of busy doing our jobs, me driving the boat and Sue Lewicki as safety diver and Rich and Julia in the water, we did get a few as we came in the inlet. The state police said they got a few with us in the water, so if we ever get them I’ll add them to this post

Driving on the beach

 

Being a first aid squad and dive team who’s coverage area covers three towns and many miles of ocean coast line it is important that we have vehicles can go on the beach. To haul equipment and people and to remove patients from the beach or jetty.

    Driving on the beach is not like driving on the road. There is things you need to do and not do. That’s what two week end drills was about. The first was driving the squad’s 5 ton military truck (34 AT) and using the air systems that is on it. We also have a4x4 ambulance and two ford SUV’s

    The second drill was getting the trucks on the beach and how to drive them without getting stuck. First we have to open the locked gates, but all the beach trucks have a key to open them. Once open and then how to remove the post that’s in the middle of the ramp so the trucks get by.

Once on the beach 342 (the beach ambulance) got stuck with in a hundred feet. Lesson number 1, how to free the truck. We have valves on 346, 349 and 342 that you put on the tires that bleed air out of the tires to a preset pressure that helps the truck drive in the soft sand. Most times only 342 need these. 349 and 346 being smaller SUV’s can get away not having to use them.

    The 5 ton truck (34 AT) can come right down the ramp and on the sand without doing anything. Most times you don’t even need to put it in all wheel drive.

   After driving up and down the beach, making turns and even backing up it was time finish the drill. One last lesson happened on the street and that was how to fill tires using the on board compressor on 34 AT. Then it was back to the building to clean all the sand out of and underneath all the trucks

     Thanks to Ali, Julia, Maya, Tony, Dennis, Chris, Big Joe, Evan for coming out and Sabrina and Chet for setting this drill up.