Lifeguards Help Rescue Drifting Boat

Newport Beach lifeguards worked together to cut anchor lines in order to free a 24-foot Bayliner that was about to wash onshore over the weekend, the Newport Beach Fire Department reported.

At about 2:41 p.m. Sunday, Newport Beach Fire Department Lifeguard Capt. Arn Van Dyke responded to a report of a 24-foot Bayliner, with four or five people aboard, dragging anchor near the surfline at L Street on the Balboa Peninsula. According to fire officials, Van Dyke swam through six-foot surf and 16 knot winds to get to the 24-foot Bayliner that was about to wash onshore.

Balboa Peninsula resident Nick Scalzo helped Van Dyke pull the boat out to the surfline until Newport Lifeguard rescue boat Sea Watch III and an Orange County Sheriff’s Harbor Patrol Fire Boat arrived on scene three minutes later.

The boat was quickly tied off as a large set of waves approached, officials reported.

Van Dyke realized there was not enough time to pull the two anchors, authorities said, so he called for a knife. Carson Hill, a deckhand on the rescue boat, grabbed an emergency knife from Sea Watch, dove in and cut the anchor lines.

“I have never come so close to ordering, ‘Abandon Ship,’ Van Dyke said in a released statement.

Authorities said lifeguards saw fishing poles out, and it appeared the boaters were unaware the surf had increased and their boat had slipped anchor in the strong winds.

Deputies towed the boat and passengers to Newport Harbor.