Kayak safety: Death in the Nissequogue 8-12-11

[DarkSkies]

I was there when it happened. I took a lot of shots of the rescue effort. I didn't see the kayak dump with the Dad and his kids or I would have dived in after them.

This is a very sad tragedy that has been all over the LI news.

I'll post the pics I took along with a narrative when I get a chance. In the meantime if anyone wants to post the news articles along with authoring links to the news sites, feel free.

My deepest condolences to this whole family and the group they came with.

[surfstix1963]

T&P to the family, all it would have taken was a PFD IDK Rich my mind going in a hundred different directions right now.

[jonthepain]

make sure that's not you, R.

[seamonkey]

all it would have taken was a PFD IDK

That is such a shame that something like this could have not happened if he was wearing a PFD. I think everyone should wear one. You never know when you might be tossed from a boat OR kayak.

[fishinmission78]

I hate to say it but darwins theory of natural selection pops up in my mind. Why would you be in a kayak in a river with no life preserver? I don't know that river but take the Manasquan, Shrewsbury or Navesink. They are raging when the tide is high around the full moon. Every year someone dies in one of these rivers because they got in trouble and were not wearing a life preserver. I feel bad for the family, but the guy who died should have had more sense. Should he have paid for it with his life, maybe not.
Bad things happen when you least expect them.

[basshunter]

I don't agree totally with what you said fishenmission but the safety thing should be in everyones mind. Otherwise you could end up like this guy. And you are right about the rivers, every year someone drowns on the back side of sandy hook because they don't realize how strong the current is.

[nitestrikes]

That was a very sad thing to hear about. My heart goes out to that family. That being said, they were on an inflatable and Dad definitely should have had a pfd. T&P to the family.

Some links to the press coverage so far.

Rescuers scour Nissequogue River for missing kayaker - News 12





http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&sourc...3dylCPcl9dQ4TQ

Suffolk County Police Fugitive/Missing Persons Section detectives are searching for a man that fell off of his kayak and into the water at Smithtown Bay, north of the Nissequogue River yesterday.
Patrick Luca, 41, of Smithtown and his 5-year-old son launched an inflatable kayak at the boat ramp at the end of Old Dock Road in Kings Park by the Nissequogue River at approximately 1:30 p.m. Friday. At approximately 2:45 p.m., Good Samaritans on a boat found the 5-year-old boy floating in Smithtown Bay wearing his life-jacket north of the mouth of the river. The boaters pulled the boy out of the water but were unable to locate Luca. The child did not sustain any injuries and was released into the care of his mother. The kayak was later recovered. Luca is a member of the New York City Police Department.
Suffolk County Police Marine Bureau officers, along with assistance from the U.S. Coast Guard and the New York City Police Department, are continuing to search for Luca.
Anyone with information about this incident is asked to contact the Fugitive/Missing Persons Section at 631-852-6040.

[nitestrikes]

Body of Missing Smithtown Dad Recovered

Posted by James Brierton on Aug 12, 2011 | (File Photo/US Coast Guard)


Kings Park, NY (SmithtownRadio.com) – The body of a missing Smithtown dad who went missing after his kayak flipped near the Nissequogue River has been recovered.
Patrick Luca, 41, and his 5-year-old son launched an inflatable kayak at the boat ramp at the end of Old Dock Road in Kings Park by the Nissequogue River at approximately 1:30 p.m. Friday
At 2:45 p.m., the 5-year-old boy was spotted floating in Smithtown Bay by a passing boat north of the mouth of the river. He was uninjured and lifted out of the water.
Luca’s body was spotted by a recreation boater Saturday around 11:30 a.m. near Sunken Meadow State Park in Kings Park, about a mile from where the kayak had been discovered the day earlier in Smithtown Bay.
The United States Coast Guard, along with Suffolk police, NYPD, and the Smithtown constable, worked through the night to search for Luca, who is an NYPD officer.
The Good Samaritans who discovered the boy floating Friday made an emergency radio transmission after finding the child. The broadcast was heard at the Coast Guard station in Connecticut, which immediately dispatched a rescue boat from Eaton’s Neck and a helicopter from Cape Cod, Massachusetts.
The boy was reunited with his mother onshore shortly after the ordeal Friday. Mother and son were taken back to their Smithtown residence.
“Thankfully the boy was wearing his lifejacket and a Good Samaritan was in the area to recover him,” said John Olsen, the United States Coast Guard Long Island Sound Sector command duty officer on watch during the incident. “Our responders are working hard to find this boy’s father.”
Divers and other personnel from area fire departments assisted in the search Friday afternoon.
The Smithtown Bay is a body of water between the Long Island Sound and the Nissequogue River.

The waterway has been reopened to boat traffic. It had been closed for a period of time while divers searched the waters.

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Tags: Breaking, Breaking News, Kings Park, Kings Park Fire Department, Nissequogue Fire Department, Nissequogue river, Smithtown, Smithtown Fire Department, Suffolk County Police Department, Suffolk County Police Department Aviation Unit, Suffolk County Police Department Marine Unit, U.S. Coast Guard

[williehookem]

The NY times did a story. It broke my heart to read about the kid blowing the whistle over and over. Tough, thoughts and prayers for that little boy and his family.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/15/ny...-kayaking.html

Mystery Surrounds Death of Police Officer Who Was Kayaking With His Young Son
By JOSEPH GOLDSTEIN

Published: August 14, 2011



It had the makings of an idyllic summer afternoon on Long Island: a father and son, out on the river on Suffolk County’s north shore. Preparations began in the morning, as the father inflated a kayak, borrowing a pump from a neighbor across the street.


New York City Police Department

Officer Patrick Luca

Related

• City Room: Missing City Police Officer's Body Is Found in Long Island Sound (August 13, 2011)

It was about 1:30 p.m. on Friday when the father, Patrick Luca, a New York City police officer, launched the kayak into the Nissequogue River, near where it washes into Long Island Sound.
It is not clear precisely when disaster struck.

The boy, Caden Luca, 5, was found first, about an hour after the kayak had left shore. A couple in a 30-foot boat spotted Caden bobbing in the water, about a mile from shore. He was kept afloat by his life vest but was being pulled out to sea by the tide.

As the couple, Ted and Kathy Sandomenico, closed in on the boy, they could hear him blowing on a small whistle tied to his vest, Mr. Sandomenico said.

By the time the Sandomenicos lifted the exhausted child onto their boat, Caden seemed overwhelmed.
He kept repeating, “You heard my whistle, you heard my whistle,” over and over again, Mr. Sandomenico recalled.
When Mr. Sandomenico asked what had happened, the boy, shivering and exhausted, said his father had disappeared underwater.

“He used those words: ‘He went down,’ ” Mr. Sandomenico said.
Later on Friday, the kayak and its 10-pound anchor were discovered out at sea.
Late the next morning, the body of Officer Luca, still carrying his off-duty .25-caliber semiautomatic pistol, was found about a half-mile out to sea, west of where the kayak was found, the authorities said.
By Sunday, there were still few answers as to what had occurred.

The authorities released conflicting accounts as to whether the boat had overturned. A spokesman for the Coast Guard maintained that the kayak had flipped over, but a spokeswoman for the Suffolk County Police Department said it had not.
Investigators from the Suffolk police do not believe that Officer Luca, who was not wearing any flotation device, was stricken by a heart attack or any other medical condition that might have caused him to lose control, according to the police spokeswoman.

Joel Reinleib, the neighbor who lent the pump to Officer Luca, said the officer had gone kayaking a number of times before.
Petty Officer Erik Swanson, a Coast Guard spokesman, said the Coast Guard was “trying to figure out what happened here.”
A 21-year veteran of the New York police, Officer Luca, 41, was a recruiter responsible for signing up candidates to take the entrance exam. “He always had a passion for recruiting,” said Inspector Martin Morales, who commanded the section where Officer Luca worked. “He felt that the Police Department offered a unique career where you could serve people and at the same time have decent benefits and pay to support your family.”

Friday was a calm enough day, although a steady breeze blew from the northwest, making for steep waves at the mouth of the Nissequogue. The area, which draws weekend kayakers and canoeists, “is a pretty dangerous place at times” because of the strength of the out-going tide, said Mark Averill, who plans search and rescue strategy for the Coast Guard and was involved in trying to find Officer Luca.

“You could step forward and the water will go from four feet deep to suddenly being over your head, and the current will take you right out,” Mr. Averill said.

An initial report circulating among the authorities, Mr. Averill said, suggested that the kayak had flipped in the wake of a passing boat.
But Mr. Averill said he heard no subsequent evidence to that effect. He added that he believed it was possible that a wave had flipped the kayak over.
On Friday, when Suffolk police officers boarded the Sandomenicos’ boat to talk to Caden, the boy had difficulty explaining what had happened.
Asked how he and his father had ended up in the water, Caden “just didn’t say anything,” Mr. Sandomenico said, adding: “Maybe he was in shock. And he was certainly scared to death.”

[DarkSkies]

By the time the Sandomenicos lifted the exhausted child onto their boat, Caden seemed overwhelmed.
He kept repeating, “You heard my whistle, you heard my whistle,” over and over again, Mr. Sandomenico recalled.
When Mr. Sandomenico asked what had happened, the boy, shivering and exhausted, said his father had disappeared underwater.

“He used those words: ‘He went down,’ ” Mr. Sandomenico said.

Willie, reading that still wrenches my guts a week later.
I keep thinking of his son's words, and the tramatic set of circumstances that young child had to witness. Tragic, moving, and compelling. And, being my prime inspiration to start speaking out and raising awareness on kayak safety.


Following are some of the pics I took at the scene.
If, for any reason, someone wants the originals of them, I have them saved in a folder, all around 190-200k. Let me know and I will send them out to you.

Please don't judge Patrick Luca. He could have used better judgement, sure, but he paid with his life for that decision. This just kills me to even think about it.
We need to raise awareness. There is a lack of safety in many areas when it comes to kayaks and small craft like this being used in big water.

If some of us can learn from this, and make safer choices on the water, then his death will not have been in vain. Deepest condolences to the family and friends of Officer Luca.

[DarkSkies]

ERVs from all the surrounding towns showed up....
Within minutes of getting the call, a steady stream of vehicles started to arrive. The pics don't quite show all the rescue personnel. It was a massive rescue effort....
2 helicopters, at least 4 rescue boats, firetrucks, ambulances, over 50 rescue personnel on site....

[DarkSkies]

These pics show the mouth of the river and the 2 emergency helos flying around. Their first focus was about 1/2 mile out. We later found out that's where the Dad went missing.





Mouth of the Nissy









You can see how the water really rips here.....
This is a shot from the Old Dock Rd pier looking outward into the Sound

[DarkSkies]

Police boat coming back to the dock after initial sweep of the area, around 3:30pm

[hookset]

Aweome shots dark, you could be a news photog. t&p to the family.

[DarkSkies]

At some polint the rescue boats went over to the other side and checked out the people swimming there. There was a white kayak, but not the same as the inflatable that went missing.









You can see the white kayak in the top right of this pic

[DarkSkies]

View of the sand bars at the head of the Nissequogue River. There are at least 3 or 4. This makes navigation treacherous at times as marine craft attempt to navigate different depths, at the same time trying to give others a wide berth.

According to some of the people I interviewed, this has become very difficult with those sand bars.

[DarkSkies]

More rescue personnel....

[DarkSkies]

More.







Coast Guard











This view is looking to the area of the Nissy before the mouth.

[DarkSkies]

More rescue personnel, and the helicopter teams.





The helicopter teams did a pretty thorough search.
This is a view overlooking the general area where Officer Luca was thought to be missing in, about 1/2 mile out in front of the Nissy mouth.




This is a pic of the inflatable they recovered. White with blue markings.



In this shot you can make out the outlines of the 2 helo's as they did a grid search.

[DarkSkies]

They wouldn't let any additional vehicles in while the rescue effort was underway. Walk-in access only.





This is an example of the types of signs LI residents have to deal with on a daily basis when it comes to shore access. It makes me think how spoiled some New Jerseyans are, that we don't have this problem, and sometimes take access for granted.