Surfer Rescues Swimmer in Distress in Long Beach

Charles McAvoy has surfed in his native Long Beach since he was 6 years old, and since then he's made a few rescues, but none quite as urgent as his save Thursday night.

McAvoy was the only surfer still in the water on Laurelton Boulevard at nearly 7 p.m., after lifeguards were off duty, when he noticed a man on the beach sprint towards a jetty and start to point at him, trying to get his attention. The man then pointed to another man in distress in the water at the end of the jetty. McAvoy looked over and noticed the man bobbing up and down in the water.

“I paddled over as fast as I could and I got there and he was definitely in distress,” McAvoy said. “I asked if he was OK, and he said ‘No! Help!' And I could hardly hear him. He was clearly out of gas.”

When McAvoy finally reached the man, who he estimates was in his 30s or 40s, and tried to pull him on his surfboard, his board started to sink because the man was so tall and big. “I was nervous we weren’t going to get to the beach,” he recalled.

But McAvoy, 46, was able to guide them through a few crashing waves on the choppy water, and once he could stand, he slowly pulled him in. “He was just laying on the board exhausted,” he said.

At that point lifeguards were in the water to help McAvoy bring the man to shore, where EMTs and police were already waiting for him.

"There was one victim who was treated at the scene but refused to go to the hospital,” said Scott Keminis, commissioner of the Long Beach Fire Department.

Paul Gillespie, chief of Long Beach lifeguards, said that lifeguards have been busy performing rescues after hours. “We’ve been pulling people out all spring and summer here after hours,” said Gillespie, who noted that three lifeguards rescued six swimmers near a jetty on Grand Boulevard beach Monday.

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On Thursday, Linda McNeill and her husband, Jim, witnessed the rescue while they sat in beach chairs on Laurelton beach. At first, she heard someone yelling for help. McNeill got up from her chair and was headed toward the shore when she spotted McAvoy, her next-door neighbor, paddling toward the man in distress near the jetty.

“I saw him go under a few times, but Charlie got there in time, put him on his surfboard and started back towards the shore,” McNeill said. “Without Charlie’s quick response this swimmer would have been a goner.”

“He was very lucky, very lucky,” McNeill added.

McAvoy, who owns a plumbing business located on West Park Avenue, said that he’s made a few saves over the years while surfing at Laurelton, but this was an incident that if believed if he weren’t there, there could have been trouble.

“I was very happy I was there and could help this guy,” McAvoy said. “No question about it.”