Helpless: An Eyewitness and Shelter Cove Fire’s Chief Describe the Attempted Rescue of Two Hikers Swept Away by Waves This Sunday
![Shelter Cove Volunteer Fire Department crew member on Jet ski 5173 [Photo taken prior to this weekend and posted by SCVFD]](https://kymkemp.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/jet-ski-shelter-cove-fire.png)
Shelter Cove Volunteer Fire Department crew member on Jet ski 5173 [Photo taken prior to this weekend and posted by SCVFD on their Facebook page]
“I’m just trying to process it,” said one woman who ran for help as the waves pulled the victim and her fellow hiker away from the shoreline near the remote northern California town of Shelter Cove. “I saw her go under.”
The woman, who didn’t want to share her name publicly told us, “My friend and I were leaning against a rock maybe 150 feet from Split Rock when this happened.” The two women are both “differently abled,” she explained and were already exhausted from having just finished walking from the Black Sands Beach trailhead about a mile north of their starting place with two dogs belonging to her friend. The woman who spoke to us said she was from another state, but her friend was a local. “I had asked her to take me to her favorite beach,” she explained. “Not the best plan as it turns out.”
As they rested, they heard a shout and looked north towards Split Rock. “We saw a backpack tumbling in the waves,” she said. At the edge of the waves, a young woman stumbled in roughly ankle deep water, the witness who talked to us said. “She was drenched” like she had fallen in the water but had managed to get up. Another hiker, this one a young man wearing a backpack was relatively close by but out of the waves she told us. He started towards the woman in the water.
“We ran towards them screaming something like, “Hey, hey, do you need help?” our witness explained. The male hiker looked towards them. “I keep seeing his face over and over in my head,” our witness told us. “I thought, shit, he’s going to go in after her.”
The witness told us she could see that “the waves were relentless. They kept escalating. Wave after wave kept coming.”
As the two women and the other hiker ran towards her, the young woman went down and stayed down in the water. “She couldn’t even talk,” our witness told us. “She kept getting tumbled,” the witness explained her voice choked with tears. “She just couldn’t get up.”
The witness said that as she ran towards the woman in the water, she kept trying to get service on her phone in order to get help. “I kept dialing 911,” she said. “I’m trying to call…It’s not working. There is no service.”
Now, that she’s had time to think, our witness believes that maybe the male hiker had some sort of emergency training. He turned towards the two approaching women and somehow spoke over the roar of the waves. “He made a really clear voice” and told them to get help.
“We’re at Split Rock,” she said the young man yelled. “I heard Splint Rock, [but] my friend is a local. She knew what it was.” Then the man went in after the woman.
“If you see someone just tumbling and it doesn’t look that deep, it seems like you could just grab them,” she told us in a dazed voice. “My friend tried to go in…I screamed, ‘Stop, you need to come back. We have to go get help.'”
The two already exhausted women began running back along the beach towards the trailhead. “I felt so stupid running away…We kept looking back on them, trying to keep an eye on where they were,” she told us. “We saw her get sucked out…He was able to tread water.” Eventually, the witness said she thinks he was floating on a backpack and seemed to know to go side ways to the shoreline but she’s not sure because she and her friend kept pushing as fast as they could towards the trailhead.
As the witness ran and kept trying to get phone service, she saw something that almost made her quit trying. “I saw her go under…I said, ‘There’s no point.’ but my friend said, ‘You don’t know…. maybe they can revive her…keep running.”
As they got closer to the trailhead, they encountered some people. “We were running back along the beach and all these families had their kids in the water,” she said. “It was like a horror movie.” She was afraid the children might also get sucked out.
Eventually, about 2:45 p.m., her local friend got cell service and called for help but the witness we spoke to continued to rush up the beach, trying to enlist more people in hopes that someone close could provide help. She says she asked multiple people to call for help.
The calls reached rescuers in time to save the young male hiker.
In a Facebook post, Shelter Cove Fire Department said, “The team utilized both rescue boat 5174 and rescue ski 5173…pushing both vessels and crew members to the limits in order to successfully rescue 1 victim and recover another from 15-20ft waves. The team had both vessels in the water within 10 minutes of being dispatched. Unfortunately one of the victims was pronounced deceased at scene by paramedics, and one was transported by air ambulance in stable condition.”
The witness said in a comment on this website, “The ocean just took her, so fast, right in front of us. There was nothing we could do but run for help and toward cell service. I’ve never felt so helpless in my life.”
She went on to say, “This was so painful to witness and I wish her soul a peaceful rest. We did everything we could. I wish I knew her name, and the [young] man’s name, to tell him I’m sorry. We tried but I couldn’t run any faster. It’s not his fault. The ocean just took her… .”
In a detailed report we received from Shelter Cove Fire Department (see below for the whole piece), they explained they are also struggling with the woman’s death and with the deaths of multiple others over the last ten years. “The crew went from the high of a once in a career rescue, instantly to a low of recovering a person they didn’t have a chance to revive,” Chief Nick Pape wrote. “The emotional toll that a drowning inflicts on rescuers, friends, and family is extremely difficult to explain or process.”
He described the rescue as dangerous and difficult. “It took everything we had to get the last person, and we weren’t sure the ski would make it back out,” he quoted the crewmember that rode the jet ski as saying.
Pape explained, “The jet ski crew could tell the second patient was not viable after rescuing the first and did not need to put themselves at risk but that’s what they would have wanted someone to do if it was a member of their family. They were trained and equipped to complete the mission fully and that’s what they did.”
Then, sadly, the Chief added, “Unfortunately, the statistics for our beaches show that this will probably happen again.”
Our witness told us that the experience of watching the young woman drown was heartrending. She said it was hard to keep running when she saw the woman sucked under. She wanted to bear witness to the terrible moment. “I feel like I might be the only person who saw her die,” she told us. “I didn’t want her to be alone.” But, she said, she had to keep trying to get help.
After she and her friend had done what they could, she told us that they “just sat on the beach and cried a lot.” In part, she says she accepts that “the ocean just takes people” but, in order not to feel completely helpless, she wanted to describe what she saw to us. “Hopefully, it prevents future tragedies,” she said.
Then, she added that she didn’t see the warning signs posted in the area as they walked to the beach though her friend, a local, assured her they were there.
“I didn’t notice them [and] I’m such a nerd for history signs,” she said. “Maybe,” she mused sadly, it would help to have “a gate that people have to open that had a warning sign.”
Below is the complete report of the incident from Shelter Cove Fire Department,
On Sunday May 29th, 2022, the Shelter Cove Fire Department rescued one hiker and recovered another who were washed off the beach on the Lost Coast Trail. The Shelter Cove Fire Department would like to extend our condolences to the drowning victim’s family and friends.
Shelter Cove Fire’s Ocean Rescue Team started in 2000 after 3 people were washed off Black Sands beach and drowned very close to the same spot as last weekend’s drowning 22 years later. Since its inception the Shelter Cove Fire all volunteer Ocean Rescue Team (SC ORT) has responded to numerous vessels in distress, search and rescues, and even a few shark attacks. The call we train for the most but never want to hear on the radio is a person in the water. In the last 10 years, SC ORT has responded to 11 calls for people in the water off California’s Lost Coast, only 2 have survived long enough for the team to get to them. Due to the remoteness of the Lost Coast, the SC ORT team takes pride in knowing that they are usually peoples last and only chance. Because of this they train every month rain or shine.
The Ocean Rescue program is an expensive and demanding program to maintain. The rescuers on the team are all volunteer and must prepare to deal with the demanding conditions that affect them both mentally and physically. The amazing community of Shelter Cove supports the fire department through a parcel tax, and some go above and beyond including a resident that donated her late husband’s unique Sea Legs Amphibious fishing boat that the department converted to a rescue boat to save lives.
The SC ORT team is mentally and physically exhausted from this incident and the 8 other recoveries preformed throughout the years. The crew went from the high of a once in a career rescue, instantly to a low of recovering a person they didn’t have a chance to revive. The emotional toll that a drowning inflicts on rescuers, friends, and family is extremely difficult to explain or process. Unfortunately, this is something that SC ORT team has become exposed to multiple times in 10 years. The SC ORT always responds as if there is a life to be saved, and if that is not the case, they have shown time and time again that they will risk it all and do everything they can to bring back someone’s loved one. There are too many details to explain how truly heroic the rescue and recovery of the two in the water was. To quote our jet ski crew, “It took everything we had to get the last person, and we weren’t sure the ski would make it back out.” The jet ski crew could tell the second patient was not viable after rescuing the first and did not need to put themselves at risk but that’s what they would have wanted someone to do if it was a member of their family. They were trained and equipped to complete the mission fully and that’s what they did.
Unfortunately, the statistics for our beaches show that this will probably happen again. To prevent this the best, we can Shelter Cove Fire would like to remind individuals and for the locals to continue spreading the word, to respect the ocean. Do not swim or go near the water in unknown terrain. Never turn your back on the ocean. Heed posted warning signs. Talk to locals about where it is safe to play and swim before going to any beach. The water at Black Sands Beach is never safe. Luckily it is a wide beautiful beach so enjoy the water from a distance.
For more ocean safety tips see: https://www.parks.ca.gov/?page_id=23792
If anyone would like to donate to the rescuers, their address is
SHELTER COVE FIRE
9126 Shelter Cove Road
Whitethorn, CA 95589
Earlier:
Join the discussion! For rules visit: https://kymkemp.com/commenting-rules
Comments system how-to: https://wpdiscuz.com/community/postid/10599/
There is a great big yellow WARNING sign at the trail head/beach access that people (tourist) regularly disregard. It blows me away when I see families with their children frolicking anywhere near the water! Did you not see the sign? Do you not take warnings seriously? No, people don’t heed warnings, people think it’s just a warning, it could happen, doesn’t mean it will. Like Warning: Cigarettes may cause cancer. The sign should say “STAY the fuck out of the water, don’t even go near the water, unless you want to drown today! There is NO CELL SERVICE! You will be sucked out to sea and you will be dead before help can arrive!!” With another sign that shows how many people have drown there. The signs need to be posted all the way down the path to the beach, just in case they miss the first one, as the “witness” did. And why is there not an emergency call box, like they have on the freeway? It could save valuable time in a situation like this!
My condolences to the family of this young woman!
Oh, and not to mention there is a HUGE shark that frequents the waters off Black Sands…
I think people assume that the danger only exists when the weather is bad or the waves look really rough.
There are several beaches on our coast that probably should have a “ranger” (or an authoritive volunteer) on duty during the day to verbally issue the warning you described.
I really like the callbox idea. Perhaps you might push it a little and see if it gets some traction. ?
There’s already a callbox
I have watched people with children climb over a pole gate with a warning sign saying don’t go past this point that used to bar access to the north jetty. People obviously saw it but don’t see an immediate risk so ignored the warning.
I once got caught in surf as a child and was getting pulled out to sea under water. I saved myself when I was being tumbled around by grabbing at the sand. The first pass, the sand was washed out of my grasp but the next tumble, I wiggled my hand deeper into the sand, then grasped. It was enough to stop the tumble and allow me to stay in place under the water and pull myself forward until I reached a spot I could my head above the water. It was a close thing as, even though I was a good swimmer, I would not likely have survived long enough to get to water that was deep enough not to get dragged under by the waves. The motion of the water was too strong. It is so easy to misjudge.
Since I was child in Humboldt, I was taught to NOT go in the water. Play on the beach, swim in the river. It’s still so ingrained in me. Moonstone was the only beach we’d play in the water at all.
But folks visiting don’t know the power of the waves. maybe they are used to waters that are gentler. Up here, on the Oregon coast, seems like a few are lost every year because they don’t understand sneaker waves. Logs “sneaking” in are also an issue.
So sorry for the lost person.
I doubt these people were “playing in the water.” The water came to play with them. The fact that there is a beach at all means the water has at some point made it there. The trouble is when a person thinks it won’t today. That video that has shown up on this site several times to illustrate on a person being caught in a sneaker wave was at Moonstone Beach.
Oh, they play in the water at black sands all right, with children, who are sometimes unattended…
I have rushed down to the beach more than once to inform the seemingly unconcerned international travelers and tourists of the unforgiving nature of the ocean there and it’s history of fatalities.
Sometimes they understand, sometimes, they do not. I explain the lack of phone reception, in case of emergency, the undertow, the riptides the frequent deaths…
A blank, incredulous stare, is generally the response…
I consider it worth it for all, for just those who listened, and retreated with their young ones, from the edge of disaster.
I actually saw one child knocked off of her feet, in just a few inches of water, on my way down to warn them, who luckily escaped the pull of the wave and the next one…
Others that I spoke with that day said, in their best English, “the pull of the ocean was strong there” when just out to about their shins.
They were lucky…
This was on a day that was the calmest that I have ever seen it at Black Sands Beach.
BTW I was trying to offer something that might help (or might not) help a person who does get swept off their feet. IDK if it is really a viable thing or not but it has bothered me every time I see a story on such a death not to mention what save me decades ago. So I did.
Oh I wasn’t disagreeing with you at all. Your experience is a valuable lesson.
As for Moonstone, I swear that the beach used to be bigger. The mouth of the Little River was further south 50 years ago. I may be misremembering that, but Moonstone beach was much bigger back then.
Moonstone varies a lot. You know the cave there? I have seen it here a person on a horse rode into it and another time when it was so filled with sand it was less than 4 feet above the sand.
I know the river was right where it is now 40 years ago. I have a photo. I’ve got some really old maps I’ll pull out and see where it was 100 years ago. I love this stuff
Moonstone/Clam Beach is changing.
The big Cascadia earthquake (about 300 years ago) wiped out the Spruce forest that was growing almost down to the tide line. If you drill down on Clam Beach and you will find the remnant stumps/logs buried pretty deep.
Now, after a couple hundred years, the forest is again re-growing. Another XX years (next earthquake) and it may be wiped out again.
Same thing happened on Humboldt Bay… big changes from the 300 year earthquake. Old mudflats buried under about 6′ of fresh mud. Spruce forest is now re-growing out on the spit.
Earth gets warm. Earth cools down. The big thing with ‘global warming’ is that it (if it progresses) is a pretty quick climate change. (That is, ignoring an asteroid strike/ volcanic eruption/unknown solar activity.) 7 to 12 billion humans on earth… all wanting pretty much the same thing.
Humans are here for only a short while, they think everything stays the same. Ten thousand, a hundred thousand, or millions of years will likely prove them wrong.
people think they can walk to the bottom of the Grand Canyon and back out in 1 day… and you actually can. But many who try.. dont even have any water with them when found.A HUGE sign at the trailheads.
You are totally right about what the sign should say. Maybe those terrible stats would help drive the message home.
I used to camp at orchard camp with my two young daughters every summer and they would go swimming in Bear harbor whenever the weather was fair. They would play in the waves for hours. Is Bear Harbor just safer than black sand beach?
Yes, it is.
Black sands is virtually fatal.
RIP lost soul. Sad for everyone involved.
Things happen so quickly but sounds like the hiker went after a backpack, ankle deep should be able to get out and wait for pack to wash up
“We saw a backpack tumbling in the waves,” she said. At the edge of the waves, a young woman stumbled in roughly ankle deep water,
I don’t think she went after a backpack. She likely got swept out to sea and her backpack came off while in the water. Was able to get herself up at some point (being ankle deep), then got swept under again. So highly doubt she “went after a backpack.”
Quick release for backpacks is a must on the Lost Coast Trail. My heart goes out to all concerned.
I almost lost my niece there over 30 years ago. The way the shore drops off is incredibly steep and dangerous. It’s an incredibly beautiful beach. Just not one to swim at, ever! Crazy to think you saw lots of families children playing in that water. One wave is all it takes and you are gone. My niece was just playing on the edge of the water. Not in the water. But a wave caught her and the sand disappeared/sunk below her feet as she tried to crawl out. It was one of the most frightening experiences of my life. When I was saving her my feet sunk and disappeared and it was incredibly scary. I swear it’s like the ocean wants you and you have to fight with all your night to keep it from sucking you in. Needless to say we never played at that beach ever again. And I warn people to this day about it. Larger signs, many of them, a gated entrance might help with that. A call box would be fantastic, for any medical emergency out there. Big shout out to the first responders, and witnesses who helped. My heart goes out to the victims family and friends. As well as the survivor. May they all find peace after this terrible tragedy.
We were no where near the water 50 years ago at needle rock when a giant wave came up. We grabbed the babies and scrambled up the cliff as the water took our blanket and our shoes.
Thank you, thank you responders. You are our heroes! I suggest we place a few lifeguards on our beaches during the busiest times like Memorial Day, July 4th. Their primary mission would be to advise beachgoers of the risks of that particular area of beach. They would be equipped with radios, cell phones, and, where necessary, have access to an ATV.
I also suggest that visitors to our cold water beaches carry a simple rescue device with 100ft or so of lightweight nylon rope attached to a small, throwable buoy.
AND EVERYBODY, thank you for your heroic actions during this horrendous event.
Perhaps a sign like ones found in factories and construction sites but slightly modified to read:
“This beach has gone 00 days without a drowning death. Please respect the ocean and stay out of the water at this location”
??
Perfect
There’s a beach in Kauai on the Napali Coast called Hanakapaii, and they have such a sign. It’s a wooden sign warning hikers of the dangerous beach with tally marks for people who’ve drowned. Last time I was there, probably 5 or 6 years ago, I remember counting 83……..
RESPECT THE OCEAN PLEASE !! She does not accept ignorance as an excuse. and no we do not need rangers or volunteers at every “dangerous ” beach to warn the people. People need common sense at Black Sands, Big lagoon and North jetty. PERIOD.
Does anyone ever observe the nearshore bouys ( cape Mendocino bouy) or the tides before they hike or “frolick” in the surf ??
Sincerest condolences to the family.
And College Cove, Luffenholtz, Centerville, etc.
If it is any consequence…We saved a woman and her friend one day at Black sands.. they were going to drown…sucked into the sand… they were SO embarrassed they didnt even ask for help or say thanks… they had NO idea how close they had just come to drowning.. Many embarrassed
people drown. they wont call out for help.. this is terribly sad.. i dont mean to make lite of any of this story.. thank you all for all your efforts.
>”The male hiker looked towards them. “I keep seeing his face over and over in my head,” our witness told us. “I thought, shit, he’s going to go in
after her.”
>”The SC ORT always responds as if there is a life to be saved, and if that is not the case, they have shown time and time again that they will risk it all and do everything they can to bring back someone’s loved one.”
My respects to both of them. Tough thing to “do what you have to do” despite the risks.
People, please heed the warning signs for Black Sands Beach. It is NOT safe to travel through that area at any time. Unfortunately, it cost the woman hiker her life. Please let her passing to be a warning for others. I am so very sorry she died. Condolences to her family and friends. A heart felt thank you to the Shelter Cove Fire Department and others who tried to get help. God bless you.
Please, ocean rescue volunteers, do not remain disheartened. Instead, look into a mirror and say to yourself, “I train hard and risk my life that others may live. I am a remarkable individual.” Give yourself your well-deserved credit for courage and compassion beyond the norm.
Well said my friend!
To advise visitors of the danger and save lives, Shelter Cove locals built and painted a large, handmade sign which was mounted alongside the trail leading to Black Sands Beach. It was colorful, illustrated, and impossible to miss. “Lives Have Been Lost,” it said. Suddenly the sign was gone. Since it was on BLM land, perhaps the authorities removed it? Such a shame. Lives ARE lost, all too often. The sign was literally a bit of local color which might have saved a life. Or two.
The sign was unfortunately vandalized.
BLM had given permission for the sign that you described.
we are looking into doing another similar sign.
condolences to the loved one lost and all those that have been involved.
Maybe there needs to be one at the Mattole end, too?
I was out there at Black Sands today with my wife and 6yr old daughter. There is another big huge handmade sign as described above. In fact there are picture signs all over.
We kept a safe 300ft distance from the water. Some foreigners were there and their teenage daughter was playing at the waters edge. Playing chicken with the water. We were on the beach all of 15min. It gave my wife such high anxiety that we left. As beautiful and majestic as Black Sands is. We will likely never come back.