A Closer Look at Friday's Rip Currents and Lifesavers

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This article is also posted in the Let's ROLL group: 

As explained in this recent thread, if not for the courage of some fearless surfboarders some lives may have been lost.  Today's City of Ludington Daily News (COLDNews) elaborated on the basics of the story that was hinted on in the previous article about some people needing to be saved on Friday due to some nasty rip currents at Stearn's Beach.  See if you can determine what is present and what is missing in this article written by Steve Begnoche:

 

                                                           File photo

Patrick Sybert of Golden Township credits adrenaline and angels for helping him and fellow surfers Tim Driscoll of Holland and “Toledo Bob” save five people pulled out into Lake Michigan Friday afternoon by a rip current off Stearns Park.
“It was a major deal,” Sybert told the Daily News this morning. “These people are alive; there is not any recovery going on today.”

Sybert said he’d been surfing at Ludington State Park until his friends called and told him to come to Stearns Park.

“We were just having a good time. We were playing in those big waves, we were like dolphins in those big waves,” he said.

Surfers, he explained, use the rip currents like those airport moving walkways to ride out into the lake and not have to fight the waves they surf back in on.

An ardent, year-round Great Lakes surfer, Sybert said he’d been surfing about six hours when the drama began late Friday afternoon.

Waves were running 3 to 4 feet with “sets” of 6 to 7 foot waves the surfers sought for their rides rolling in every 3 to 5 minutes.

They were enjoying the surfing when they heard screams.

http://www.ludingtondailynews.com/news/72235-surfer-talks-about-hel...=

 

The print news continues the story: 

 

 

Over the weekend, a young lady drowned in Lake Michigan in Muskegon, and we had an older man drown just to the north around the Nordhouse Dunes area.  We were very lucky that we had some dedicated surfers who love rip currents down at Stearn's Park on Friday save our visitors. 

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If you recall the other time I used this photo, you should remember that we went past the officer who had parked the vehicle who had a rather un-sunny disposition while patrolling the street.  So he wasn't running radar, nor would he have to presumably take up three spaces to do so. 

It is instructive in that the police car is parked and taking three parking spaces on a nice summer evening; if you believe you could get away (presuming you aren't a police officer) with the same parking without getting a parking ticket for triple parking, then you must be a little south of Reality.

Whereas, you can and will get tickets for parking without a pass in the Loomis Street parking area, these tickets were for 'improper parking' and/or 'double parking'.  But guess what: the sheriff's vehicles and trailer combos there for training were also improperly parked and had no tickets.  A conservation officer parked there yesterday was clearly double parked, but weren't given any ticket even though others in the lot had these tickets. 

Fair is fair-- give them tickets too, or waive the BS for the other people who had a tire on the line or an inadvertently poorly parked trailer.  These violations can be up to $75. 

Lastly, I invite you to go through all the archives here and try to tell me where I slander or degrade the officers that you mentioned.  You come on here to assault my character for what you perceive are my failings, but you won't find me doing that for our public servants, except as regards their public policy and their actions in the public sphere.

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In eight visits to the park during the day (11 AM to 6 PM) here in August-- different nice days that had swimmers at the beach-- I have seen the Beach Patrol once on Stearn's Park beach.  Five times I saw them nowhere, two times they were in the Loomis Street parking area looking for parking violations.  The one time they were in Stearn's the patroller was riding their bicycle the wrong way on the One-Way Stearn's Outer Drive.  That's dangerous, and against the law.

It's possible, I may have missed them rescuing someone at the time I passed through, or maybe they were way out on the lighthouse using the life rings, but it's kind of unlikely.  With a mostly vague or undefined job description, they could be performing beach safety while speeding through the Fourth Ward on their golf carts several miles away from the beach.  The next two weeks will be the most dangerous of the summer, as traditionally the waves increase in frequency and size.  Can we maybe have some more presence at the beach, Patrollers?