OCEAN CITY — Five of the seven lifeguard stands reported missing from Rehoboth Beach last week have been recovered, including one hauled in by an Ocean City charter boat about five miles off the resort coast.
Last Thursday, beach sweepers in Rehoboth reported seven of its Beach Patrol’s lifeguard chairs, or about a third of the Delaware resort town’s stands, were missing when they did their morning cleanup operation. The Rehoboth Police responded, as did the Delaware Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control, but the missing stands were nowhere to be found.
A Delaware State Police helicopter cruised the coastline and did not see any evidence of the stands in the water or hidden somewhere on the beach. The Rehoboth Beach Patrol employed back-up lifeguard stands for the weekend as the investigation continued. According to Capt. Kent Buckson, a 28-year veteran of the Rehoboth Beach Patrol, it took as long as two days to confirm the lifeguard stands were taken out to sea.
“I was extremely frustrated, then I was angry,” he said. “We didn’t know at first how many backup chairs we had. Coincidentally, seven were stolen and we had seven left at the impound, so within a couple of hours, we were able to have the backup chairs on the beach so the guards could perform their duties.”
By mid-week, five of the seven lifeguard stands had been recovered. Two washed up on neighboring Delaware beaches, Ocean City charter boat Captain Mark Sampson on the “Fish Finder” spotted two and recovered one, the Coast Guard Station Ocean City recovered one and Coast Guard Station Indian River recovered another.
On Sunday morning, Sampson and the “Fish Finder” were fishing about two miles off the Ocean City coast when it came upon one of the missing stands floating in the water.
“We were fishing yesterday morning about two miles out on a beautiful, calm day and we could see something white floating in the water about a half of a mile away,” said Sampson on Monday. “We went over to it and found out it was a lifeguard stand floating upside down in the water. We hadn’t heard anything about the missing stands in Rehoboth and just assumed it was probably from Ocean City.”
Sampson said he called the Coast Guard and informed them of the find and the coordinates for the lifeguard stand and went on their way. He said he didn’t consider at the time making an attempt to bring the floating lifeguard stand on board and continued fishing after notifying the Coast Guard.
Sampson said he and the “Fish Finder” crew kept on fishing through mid-morning and were about five miles offshore when they came across another lifeguard stand floating in the ocean. Sampson called friend and Ocean City Councilman Doug Cymek, who informed him of the seven missing lifeguard stands from Rehoboth.
Captain Mark Sampson and the crew of the “Fish Finder” returned to Ocean City Sunday with one of the five Rehoboth Beach lifeguard chairs recovered this week. Submitted Photo
“It was then after noon when we saw the second lifeguard stand drifting by us,” he said. “We decided because of the potential danger we would attempt to bring it on board. With four guys and some creative rigging and rope work, we were able to bring it on board.”
Sampson said the large wooden lifeguard stands created the potential for a serious navigation hazard in even the calmest, brightest of conditions, let alone in the fog or dark.
“It had the potential to be really dangerous,” he said. “I wouldn’t want to run across it in any size boat.”
Sampson and the “Fish Finder” hauled the lifeguard stand into its home port at the Ocean City Fishing Center in West Ocean City where it was taken off the vessel with a forklift. The Rehoboth Beach Patrol was notified and instructed where to come pick it up on Monday. The lifeguard stands weighs about 500 pounds and cost around $800 each.
Petty Officer 2nd Class Collin Snovell, a boatswain’s mate at Coast Guard Station Indian River, related the story of the recovery of another of the missing stands.
“It’s not something we see every day,” he said. “It was a challenge once we got alongside the chair and realized how big it actually was.”
Snovell said the Coast Guard crew considered towing in the lifeguard stand, but ultimately decided it would create too much drag. Instead, like Sampson and the “Fish Finder” earlier in the week, the Coast Guard crew decided to bring the bulky wooden stand on board and haul it in to shore. The vessel had a beam, or width of over eight feet, but the lifeguard stand still hung over each side as it was brought in.
“It was a challenge getting it on the boat, but once we did, we felt comfortable bringing it in,” he said.
Despite the recovery of five of the stands, two were still unaccounted for as of mid-week, raising serious concerns about navigation dangers.
“When people do stuff like this, putting those chairs in the water, not only is it unfair to the people who volunteer to pull people out of the water, but it’s a serious hazard to navigation,” said Snovell. “Something that big and that heavy, if you hit that in a fiberglass boat, it could really mess up your day.”
Buckson said multiple agencies have assisted with the search for and recovery of five of the missing stands including the Delaware and Maryland State Police Aviation. He also thanked the Ocean City Beach Patrol for their support.
“There’s been a lot of help from different agencies, but the Coast Guard has been instrumental in tracking these lifeguard chairs and going out and retrieving them. I’m thankful no one has been injured. I’m hopeful the police will find those responsible,” he said.