When a fellow surfer suffered a fatal cardiac event not long after emerging from the waves near Montauk Point back in 2024, it got many in the surfing community here thinking about how they could be better prepared in the future to face the myriad of emergencies that can arise in the water and on the shore.
After a tragedy like that, you realize what you don’t know, said Christina Blaustein, a board member of the Surfrider Foundation Eastern Long Island chapter.
That was part of the impetus behind a series of surf safety sessions the chapter began hosting in the fall. For the first, held in October at the Marram hotel in Montauk, Surfrider had East Hampton Volunteer Ocean Rescue review ocean safety protocols. After a land-based introduction, participants were taken into the water for a hands-on component, where they were taught how to do things like float an injured person to safety on a short or long board.
The next session, on Tuesday at Rosie’s restaurant in Amagansett, will address personal and community ocean preparedness. Leading it will be two former members of the Marine Corps Special Operations Command known as the Raiders: Jonathan Joseph, a retired lieutenant colonel, and Daniel Secor, who served as a medic and is now finishing his medical degree at the Mayo Clinic’s Alix School of Medicine in Arizona.
Mr. Joseph will talk about the importance of having a plan when you go into the ocean, which, in an emergency, “could save you minutes, and minutes could save a life,” Ms. Blaustein said. In advance, he visited Ditch Plain and other popular surfing beaches, so his advice will be tailored to his audience and the on-shore terrain they’re familiar with.
Mr. Secor, said Ms. Blaustein, “knows everything about medical crises.” He’ll discuss “the five most common injuries you could see in the water. . . . Hopefully that never happens, but between Jonathan giving us a plan and Dan talking us through what you could see in a trauma . . . they arm us a little better.”
Both men “have dealt with how to be in the elements” and with ocean and weather-related emergency response over their multiple tours of duty, said Holly Li, the vice chairwoman of Surfrider Eastern Long Island’s executive committee, who crafted the surf safety sessions along with Ms. Blaustein and the volunteers Danielle Scholz and Caroline Williams.
For people who might be inclined to overcome their fears in the face of big waves and rough ocean conditions, the presenters’ experience has taught them the opposite. “They both talk about how important it is to listen to your fears,” said Ms. Blaustein. Mr. Joseph will address things like “how do you know your limits,” “when you shouldn’t get in the water,” and the critical time frame in which it’s possible to save somebody in medical distress.
“It’s slightly outside the purview of our mission, but our community really needs this,” Ms. Blaustein said. “Not only” is Surfrider “working to protect our ocean, waves, and beaches . . . we also hear our community and our needs, and we respond to them.”
The chapter plans least two more surf safety nights in the coming months, geared not only to surfers like themselves, but to anyone who goes to the beach and gets in the water. One will focus on CPR, with an opportunity to become certified in the lifesaving skill.
“Our little chapters become like families and they become our community,” Ms. Blaustein said. “Our goal is for all of us to feel like we can do a better job of keeping an eye out for each other.”
The session at Rosie’s will run from 5 to 7 p.m. It is for members, but people can join the chapter when they sign up at bit.ly/3NUnjgc with a donation as little as $5. Those 21 and older will get a ticket for one drink from the restaurant’s bar.
