With a torrent of offshore tropical storms and hurricanes churning up dangerous, heavy surf south of Martha’s Vineyard throughout the summer, Chilmark beach manager Martina Mastromonaco spoke with the Gazette this week about best techniques for avoiding rip tides and staying safe in the water.
A National Weather Service high surf and rip current warning remains in effect today for the south coast of Massachusetts, including the Vineyard. Seas could run from six to 12 feet. Swimmers are advised to use extreme caution.
The National Weather Service has issued an advisory Wednesday for high surf and a high risk of dangerous rip currents along ocean beaches on the south coast of the Vineyard.
In an unusual incident, 13 swimmers were pulled from the water off Wasque Wednesday afternoon after several people were caught in the current and carried offshore.
The swimmers were rescued by the Edgartown fire department boat and a town shellfish department boat. There were at least three separate groups of people involved.
South-facing beaches along Martha’s Vineyard are under high risk for rip currents today, the National Weather Service has announced. The warning will remain in effect through Monday evening.
In response to the warning, The Trustees of Reservations has closed the beach at Long Point Wildlife Refuge. Swimmers are encouraged to use the pond for swimming.
Last Sunday, while chasing waves in the Atlantic Ocean at Philbin Beach with my 11-year old granddaughter, I noticed the surf, which had been crashing in, had suddenly disappeared. The ocean I was standing in up to my waist seemed eerily calm. The sandy shore behind me lay perfectly flat, like a sheet of paper. How peculiar.
August is the month when ocean swimming is at its best; the water has warmed enough to make long swims a pleasant escape from the heat and dust of summer. This is also the month when hurricanes and tropical storms can come barreling up the coast from the warmer waters south of us and kick up dangerous surf and rip currents, also known as riptides.
Ripples of Hurricane Frances left a tragic mark on a remote section
of Chilmark's south shore Friday afternoon. A rip current is being
blamed in the drowning death of a 58-year-old woman from Cambridge who
was swimming with a friend.
Gwenneth Knight, a consultant to the Harvard University Art Museums
on Indian and Islamic acquisitions, died Saturday after being airlifted
to Brigham & Women's Hospital in Boston from the
Martha's Vineyard Hospital.
Lifeguards made a series of rescues this week at Lucy Vincent Beach in Chilmark, where rip currents have created unsafe swimming conditions in spots, Chilmark beach superintendent Martina Mastromonaco said yesterday. On Monday, two women were rescued by lifeguards after currents pulled them out to sea.
