East Hampton Village Surf Rescue Response Team Hopes to Ease Danger on Local Shores

East Hampton Village is taking steps to prevent swimmers from danger this summer. Jimmy Minardi, East Hampton native, has helped launch the East Hampton Village Surf Rescue Response Team. Minardi, a longtime lifeguard, has been working for years to get the initiative off its feet.

The team will comprise more than 60 certified, local lifeguards who will receive an alert if there’s an emergency on one of East Hampton Village’s beaches. The system they use is called a Quick Reaction Force, allowing them to receive an amber alert style notification on their phones when there’s a swimmer in distress.

Most of the guards signed-up so far are young locals. “They train every day, and they’re very strong in the water,” Minardi boasts. Their affinity for the waves makes it all the better. “It just makes perfect sense because they’re always around the water.”

It hasn’t all been smooth sailing, though, as the process of starting the rescue team has actually been a long time coming. “This is a conversation that goes back 25 years,” Minardi says. Minardi, whose father was an ocean guard, has always thought it odd that when lifeguards went off duty for the day, that was it. “How ridiculous is it that we’re not using these guys before 10 a.m. and after 5 p.m.”

Minardi’s attempts at getting the group started fell on deaf ears for years, though. According to Minardi, over the years, he’s approached many municipalities and EMS agencies across Long Island to propose his idea for the rescue team. “It’s not that they didn’t want it, it was that they didn’t see how it would work,” he says.

As time passed, the logistics for a fast response team of Minardi’s planning became more realistic. Technology allowed for a new facet into the initiative, one that would definitely help boost response times for ocean rescue efforts. “The beauty of technology,” Minardi says, “is that now you don’t need a pager, which is obviously inconvenient; instead, these kids just get it on the main screen of their phone.” It’s a perfect system, since “it’s the phone generation: a lot of kids between 18 and 25 are glued to their phones.”

The surf rescue team brings another layer of protection to the community, one that has previously worked together in the same vein. “This is an East Hampton Village community effort; it all started with us putting up the rip current signs 25 years ago.

While the team has only just started, it hopes to make an immediate impact if possible.

“It only takes 45 seconds to drown,” reminds Minardi. “If we can save one life, if we can help one person out, then it’s all worth it.”