What a story! Apparently, an Ocean Beach woman with friends went swimming last night – Tuesday night – and they went swimming without clothes – naked – . When she got out of the (low-50s?) water she couldn’t find her friends, she couldn’t find her clothes, her cellphone or even her wallet. What to do? So, she walks home. Now, the U-T is reporting that she walked home “drunk and naked”. OMG!
Anyhow, she probably fell asleep at some point, not even imagining that her absence on the beach would set off such a scene.
Anyhow, someone walking on the beach near the end of Brighton Avenue near Dog Beach found her stuff. This was about 4:30 a.m. – this morning. Sounds like the good Samaritan waited around for an hour to see if anyone claimed the clothes, cellphone and wallet. No one did. So, they called the lifeguards.
Well, this sounded the alarm. San Diego lifeguards and police went into immediate “search and rescue” mode. Lifeguards took their boats out into the water in search of the woman. They did this for two hours. Some of their crews also searched on the shore. The lifeguards also requested help from the U.S. Coast Guard, which began a helicopter search around 6 a.m. A Coast Guard boat also joined the search.
Initially, reported KUSI, Lifeguards were looking for the woman from observation towers, from boats and using land patrols, according to lifeguard Lt. Greg Buchanan.
And after what the U-T called, “an exhaustive two-hour search on the shore and in the water”, all the lifeguards went back to their more standard routines, and suspended the rescue effort about 7:30 a.m.
The Coast Guard helicopter continued the search for a while longer. Meanwhile, San Diego police had gone to the woman’s last known address but were not able to locate her.
Or at first. Apparently, either during a later search at her Ocean Beach apartment – or sometime, police did find her safe and unharmed, after 9:30 a.m., police Lt. Andra Brown told the press.
Brown said officers had checked the woman’s apartment complex, but NBC San Diego reported it took some time before they got the correct unit number for the woman. She was at home by then.
Officers had impounded her belongings and did not immediately return them, Brown said. The woman’s name was not released.
Now, really, this could have happened to any of us – any of us who go swimming naked in mid-50’s temperatures. And at night. But, hey, if you’ve had enough alcohol, you don’t really feel the cold that much.
But, dammit. Think of all the excitement the search and rescue teams had. A careless OBcean spurred into action an entire phalanx of first-responders, people we rely on, who combed the land, sea, and air for this person. I’m wondering whether the police impounding her clothes was slightly in retribution. I mean, isn’t she the victim here ? Or is she? (But what happened to all her friends – you know – the ones she went swimming with?)
We can just say: Be careful out there, friends. Remember where you leave your wallet and clothes when you jump into that water. And thank you to the good Samaritan, whoever you are.
{ 15 comments… read them below or add one }
I’m really hoping I can win the highest number of hits with this headline today. With the words “naked” and “swimmer” I’m dealing to duplicate that story two years ago about the naked swimmer who caused a riot and police meltdown. Oh, well, I can hope, can’t I? The blogger with the highest hits gets an extra bowl.
Well it’s all over Google News. So I guess you get the extra gruel
Channel 6 says the search lasted for nearly 5 hours. http://www.sandiego6.com/news/local/Missing-OB-Woman-Found-Safe-146151975.html
What amazes me is that she didn’t succumb to hypothermia because of the cold water. Alcohol may dull the sense of cold water but it doesn’t change the body’s reaction to heat loss – and alcohol may even amplify that. Perhaps she didn’t stay in very long…
Judy – do you recall – in the movie at least – how the cook survived the Titanic sinking? He single-handedly polished off a bottle of wine. The alcohol prevented – I guess – his blood from freezing. Was it Hollywood or Memorex?
A naked , drunk woman walking home in OB at 5 AM whats so uncommon about that ?
For once, you made a funny.
I’m actually pretty funny , most just don’t get it ! At least my long time therapist tells me that.
Lol. this is nothing unusual in OB. I once ran into a local bartender running barefoot down Bacon Street@ 4am. He said hey how’s it goin. i was like, what’s up. No big deal.
Oh yeah i wasn’t naked, and he was wearing only boxer shorts
I hate to put a damper on this fun OB type of story, but has anyone thought how much money it costs so send out a helicopter or that search crew? The chopper alone, the gas…wow.
Hey, those were some of my original thoughts, also.
I win! There’s over 300 hits on this post this morning. I knew if I was able to place the words “naked” and “Ocean Beach” in the same headline, it would go viral. Adding the word “swimmer” was just the icing. I couldn’t figure out how to get “marijuana” in there however. And please, notice how the headline was gender neutral.
when I saw the chopper hovering over the beach for so long, I figgured they were searcing for flotsam from a drug smuggler that they sank off shore. Couldn’t see how they’d justify that much man power on looking for a body. No way any naked person would survive that long in the water, so it WAS a search for a corpse, not a living person. really? the police didn’t check the apartment on the back of the property? most of the units in that area have back houses. Looks to be a conspiracy to me. I think they were hunting sharks hopped up on marijuana chum.
This 46 year old naked drunk swimmer needs to get to some AA meetings! And…what kind of friends does she have that would allow her to swim drunk or stay in the water alone or not make sure she got home safe? Very disturbing she needs to get some help.