Get Morning Report and other email newsletters
Get Morning Report and other email newsletters
CAPITOLA – In a typical game of Beach Flags, a popular California Junior Lifeguards pastime, participants stand up on “go,” turn on a dime, and look for a row of rubber hose batons sticking out of the sand about 20 yards away. The aim is to then retrieve a baton before the other contestants grab one first.
Dane Morin, 19, has been playing since he was 6 years old and now, as a lifeguard for the City of Capitola, he makes time to coach the local junior guards in regional and statewide events. But at tournament in Huntington Beach on July 22, Morin and his team spun around in the heat of a competition and saw something no one was expecting.
A plane had crashed into the bubbling summer surf and a pilot’s life hung in the balance. That’s when Morin sprung into action.
“In that moment, I didn’t hesitate and just grabbed my tube and my fins and sprinted down towards the accident,” Morin told the Sentinel. “It was a small passenger plane and the wings were falling apart and it was submerging already.”
Morin grew up on the Eastside of Santa Cruz, where a swift breeze is enough to carry the salty smell of the ocean into every corner of the neighborhood. From an early age, he spent time at the beach, surfing, hanging out with friends and participating in the junior lifeguards program every summer, where he fostered a passion for the ocean and a respect for its strength.
As soon as he was old enough to become a certified lifeguard at age 18, he joined Capitola’s ranks, where he continues to work the towers when he’s home from school at San Jose State. He’ll be starting his sophomore year in the fall and stays in shape by lifeguarding at the school’s recreation pool.
“This isn’t really just a job to me, this is kind of like a life goal,” Morin said of his passion for the work. “I can’t see where I’d be in life without it. Even if I missed one summer, I could be on a different track.”
In the immediate aftermath of the crash at Huntington Beach, Morin sprinted to the water – hurdling multiple fences and beach chairs along the way – and swam swiftly toward the incident, estimating it to be about 100 to 200 yards from shore. The surf was high and a powerful rip current threatened to pull Morin off course, but he managed to arrive at the plane within minutes and was the first certified lifeguard to reach the pilot.
“There was also jet fuel in the water, so I didn’t want to put my head in,” he said. “In that moment, I really had no thought but to just get to this guy and get him to the shore.”
When Morin arrived, he saw that the pilot was conscious and had managed to slip out of the cockpit of the sinking aircraft. No one else was on board the plane. Several junior lifeguards with paddle boards had also arrived at the scene, but the pilot couldn’t keep steady on their boards and it became clear that Morin was the best and safest option for the rescue.
Around that time, Nikki Bryant, the recreation division manager for the city of Capitola, was standing on the beach alongside hundreds of stunned junior guards and members of the public. Bryant had traveled to Los Angeles to support the youth participating in the competition and, upon arrival, spotted a suspiciously low-flying banner plane in the distance.
“It didn’t occur to me that anything was wrong,” Bryant said, thinking the plane was flying low to grab the crowd’s attention. “In hindsight, I realized the plane was absolutely silent. And then all of a sudden it hit the water (and) sounded like a giant board slapping the water. And I was just in disbelief.”
Bryant and her staff began crowd control work while she said dozens of additional lifeguards ran into the water. It was then that a colleague informed her that Morin had reached the pilot first. “They said Dane was the one that clipped him in and I was like ‘no way!’ “
When Morin arrived at the plane, he assessed the pilot’s state of consciousness by running through an emergency cognitive and physical assessment. The pilot was alert and responsive and without significant injury, but Morin could tell the man was in extreme shock and was hesitant to get into the rescue flotation device. After some reassurance, the pilot acquiesced and Morin began to backstroke the both of them to shore as the plane bobbed before sinking into the surf.
“I had to go to the side because we were right next to the plane and it almost crashed on top of us under the waves,” he said.
Because of the unpredictable ocean conditions that day, Morin and the pilot were forced to duck beneath several sets of crashing waves, narrowly avoiding head collisions and further injury. When the surf became shallow, he carefully walked the pilot to shore where he was met by dozens of paramedics, firefighters and police officers.
Safety crews immediately whisked the pilot away for treatment and, according to local news reports, he was quickly put into a neck brace, though no significant injuries were reported. The Federal Aviation Administration is investigating the crash and the pilot has not been identified.
“Dane was the lifeguard to perform this rescue out of over a hundred lifeguards on the beach,” Bryant said. “To be on a different beach and to immediately assume the responsibility of saving a life over anything else – it’s a super prideful moment for us.” Bryant said there were about 15 different lifeguard agencies at the beach that day.
Related Articles Crashes and Disasters | Police release new details in crash that killed woman crossing Highway 1 with child Crashes and Disasters | Actress Anne Heche has ‘long recovery ahead’ after car crash Crashes and Disasters | L.A. man identified as third victim in fatal lightning strike near White House Crashes and Disasters | What happened to Jack? Mystery over Texas boating death of California teen finally unravels years later Crashes and Disasters | Coast Guard: 2 dead, 5 missing after migrant boat capsizes The Capitola City Council honored Morin at its July 28 meeting and thanked him for his actions.
“Most of us would probably tend to freeze under that circumstance, but I think you demonstrated such a presence of mind and courage to know what to do in that situation,” said Capitola Mayor Sam Storey. “I commend you on that and I think it’s a reminder to all of us that sometimes life throws curveballs at us and we always need to be alert, always need to be prepared.”
While Morin has proven he’s ready for anything, when his team turns around at future Beach Flags competitions, he’s still expecting they’ll find those familiar rubber batons out ahead of them, most of the time.
“I know it’s one of those probably, once-in-a-lifetime scenarios,” he said. “But it is part of the job. I don’t see myself as better qualified for any reason, I think all of the staff members down here … would have done the same thing in the exact same time, if they were in my shoes.”
We invite you to use our commenting platform to engage in insightful conversations about issues in our community. We reserve the right at all times to remove any information or materials that are unlawful, threatening, abusive, libelous, defamatory, obscene, vulgar, pornographic, profane, indecent or otherwise objectionable to us, and to disclose any information necessary to satisfy the law, regulation, or government request. We might permanently block any user who abuses these conditions.
Get Morning Report and other email newsletters