Lifeguards Rescue Boogie Boarder in Dramatic Human Chain Rescue
The heroic rescue serves as a reminder of how dangerous rip currents can be.
Nothing can ruin a day at the beach quite like rip currents. While it might seem like a drag when you can't swim due to fast-moving reasons, there is a reason lifeguards put the warning signs up. According to the National Ocean Service, around 100 people die every year in the United States due to rip currents, which can move faster than an Olympic swimmer. This week a boogie boarder got dragged out to see due to rip currents, but lucky for him, the quick-thinking lifeguards banded together to save him.
A group of lifeguards in Flagler, Florida, are the stars of a heroic video that was captured by drone over the weekend. In it, a boogie boarder gets saved when the guards form a human chain to get to him.
Joe Osborne decided to take a break from his job at a tattoo parlor. He grabbed his drone and flew it over the ocean. Little did he know what he would film.
In the video a man on a boogie board appears to have drifted far from shore. A lifeguard starts towing him in the direction of the beach, while thre others swim out to meet them and help.
The guards formed a human chain with the first lifeguard and the boogie boarder and eventually towed him to safety.
"I was actually kind of impressed," Osborne told FOX35 Orlando. "It was definitely a rehearsed thing … with their buoys and their lines, and they use them in unison. Very impressive. I thought it was very neat."
According to Malaina Bryant, a lieutenant with Flagler Beach Ocean Rescue, the rescue was adapted from their traditional strategy because the boogie boarder was so far from shore. "That rescue is pretty far out, so they needed backup, so the backup comes out, and then they chain up by grabbing each other's buoys," Bryant said. "We all work really hard, so it shows on the video. They did awesome."
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Osborne also points out that the video should serve as a warning for swimmers to be careful of rip currents. "Unless you really could see it, you don't believe it, but it's strong enough," Osborne said of a rip current. "It'll pull you out."
