A ‘tough year’ at the shore

Alex Coolman

NEWPORT BEACH -- It was a gruesome reminder of the danger that surges

in the waves off Newport Beach.

Last week, a 20-year-old man from Fullerton walked into the water at

the Wedge. Within moments he was covered by large surf. His lifeless body

was not pulled from the water until three hours later.

Authorities believe the Fullerton man may have killed himself. But

whatever the explanation for his actions, his was the fifth death on the

beaches of Newport this summer.

And though lifeguards rescue hundreds of swimmers on a busy summer

weekend, they are candid about the risk that people take when the step

into the water.

“It’s a dangerous game we play,” said Jim Turner, a captain with the

lifeguard division of the city’s Fire and Marine Department. “It’s a

risky proposition, but people enjoy the water.”

This summer has been worse than most for claiming lives at the beach.

In May, a Santa Ana teenager drowned off Newport Pier. In June, a San

Bernardino man died in a rip current around 55th Street and a 17-year-old

Highland resident collapsed and died at the Wedge.

In July, the body of a 70-year-old Costa Mesa man, possibly a suicide,

washed up at the El Morro Village mobile home park.

And then, last Thursday, the 20-year-old Fullerton man slipped below

the surface.

There is usually one drowning during an average summer in Newport

Beach, Turner said.

This year, with only two deaths that can be labeled accidental

drownings with any certainty, is perhaps not so much worse than usual,

but the sheer body count is intimidating, officials said.

“It’s been a tough year,” Turner said. “But the lifeguards have done

an outstanding job this year. They’re watching 3,000 or 4,000 people at a

time, and that’s a lot of responsibility for a young kid.”

The true nature of that responsibility is something swimmers often

only realize in the panicked moments before they’re plucked out of the

sea.

“They walk away stunned,” Turner said. “Because they know. They think

twice next time.”