On a cold and windy Sunday, a kayaker set out on the Moriches Inlet for some seal-watching. Instead, he was swept out into the ocean when his kayak overturned.
John Dalen, chief of the Eastport Fire Department, told Patch that at 12:08 p.m., a call came in about a kayaker in distress. “There was no way he was coming back in,” he said. The problem was that the man, who was in his 60s, was in the “dead center” of the inlet and about a quarter of a mile out into the ocean as currents pulled him out to sea.
Fortunately, the kayaker had not been alone, it was his friend who initially called the Westhampton Beach Fire Department and said his “buddy had gotten swept out,” Dalen said. “He last saw him going through the inlet.”
The friend called for help from a small, portable handheld radio, Dalen said.
It took the combined efforts of sea and air rescue resources to save the kayaker’s life. While the fire department vessels were en route, a Suffolk County Police helicopter was able to locate the man in the ocean side just outside the inlet, Dalen said.
An Eastport Fire Department vessel, with ex-Chief Mark Yakaboski as the coxswain, along with his three-member crew, including former Chief Ryan King, Lt. Joseph Dalen, and John Dalen, were able to transit the inlet in less than 10 minutes and rescue the victim from the water.
When Lt. Dalen, John’s son and a rescue swimmer, rescued the man they found that he was suffering from “severe” hypothermia and could not stand or lift his head after having been in the frigid water for at least 40 minutes. Had he not been wearing a wetsuit, his survival would have been in grave jeopardy.
“Due to the victim’s inability to assist in getting into the vessel, ex-Chief Ryan King assisted the victim into the vessel,” Dalen said.
The man was initially treated as the rescue vessel transported him to the East Moriches Coast Guard Station. He was then transported to a waiting Suffolk County police helicopter and airlifted to Stony Brook University Hospital for medical care.
“This was another successful multi-agency response from the surrounding fire departments,” Dalen said.
