The Associated Press
NEW YORK — An off-duty New York City firefighter was rescued from the chilly Atlantic Ocean after his sailboard was swept out to sea, police said.
A police helicopter spotted Fire Lt. Charles Marshall clinging to his board about four miles off the city’s coastline in mid-afternoon on Friday, police said. They said he had been drifting for an hour or more in 50-degree water.
Police said Marshall and two friends had gone out sailboarding together from Brooklyn’s Plumb Beach, but they got separated. Marshall later told WABC-TV winds suddenly died down just as a strong current picked him up.
Police helicopters circled for some time before something caught a rescuer’s eye, police said.
“They couldn’t see me wave, and so finally I figured, “What’s the biggest thing I can wave?’ It was a board,” he told WABC-TV.
Police said Marshall was cold, but coherent, when rescuers reached him. They said he had been somewhat protected from the elements by a dry suit, a life jacket and other gear.
Marshall was taken to Lutheran Medical Center for treatment. He went home later Friday.