A kayaker rescued from outside Moriches Inlet on February 25 by a local first responder task force is out of the hospital and doing well, Eastport Fire Chief John Dalen said this week.
Dalen was part of the team that rescued the man after his kayak capsized during a seal-watching paddle in Moriches Bay. He was swept out of the inlet, where breaking surf flipped the kayak over, sending the man into the 40 degree water, where he remained for between 40 minutes and an hour before being rescued, Dalen said.
The incident occurred midday on Sunday and precipitated a task force response from fire agencies ranging from Westhampton Beach to Mastic. The task force has “dialed in” its response, said Dalen, to the point where “it’s just the touch of one button” to summons the first responders, rather than the old system which required individual calls to the respective fire agencies.
The Westhampton Beach Fire Department was lead agency on the response, said Dalen, given that the call for service had come from the Westhampton Beach side of Moriches Inlet. The Eastport Fire Department deployed a so-called SAFE boat — a secure all-around flotation equipped 25 foot vessel — and Dalen manned the vessel along with his son, a lieutenant with the agency, and another first responder.
Dalen said they made it to the inlet in about 10 minutes and found the man about a quarter-mile outside the inlet, 20 or 30 yards from his kayak and “just rolling outside the breakers.” The man was unable to grab onto flotation devices thrown in his direction or to a rescue line and was submerged up to his neck, said Dalen, and wearing a life jacket that Dalen said is “probably what saved him.”
The man was 15-20 minutes away from this story having a tragic ending, said Dalen.
The kayaker also had a marine radio in the kayak that he was unable to utilize during the emergency. It was recovered by the rescuers.
The rescuers eventually dragged the man into the vessel and sped him over to the nearby United States Coast Guard Station East Moriches, which is unmanned in the winter months and is only manned from Friday through Sunday during the summer owing to personnel shortages at the agency.
“There are no rescue crews coming out of Moriches,” said Dalen, which is what gave rise to the creation of the regional sea-rescue task force.
The task force crews gathered at the Coast Guard station. A Suffolk County Police helicopter landed at the station and deployed the medic who was onboard to attend to the kayaker. An East Moriches ambulance was sent to the helicopter landing site to ferry him to the nearby helicopter, said Dalen, who added that the man had to be moved using a backboard given that he was “just frozen.” He was quickly whisked off to Stony Brook University Hospital for treatment.
“His body core was down to 91 degrees” when he got to the hospital, said Dalen, who reported that he had heard from the man’s friends who said he had suffered some kidney issues due to the hypothermia, but was otherwise “doing well.”
