Memorial Swim for July 4th Drowning Victims

All of us felt a deep sense of grief when three young children drowned in Cold Spring Harbor on the night of July 4th -- trapped in the cabin of a boat that capsized and sank in 60 feet of water. Though most of us in the West Neck Pod did not know Victoria Gaines, Harlie Treanor or David Aureliano, this tragedy nonetheless felt deeply personal for having happened in our own home harbor....within sight of our beloved West Neck Beach and our daily swimming routes. On Saturday, August 4th, the West Neck Pod will commemorate the one-month anniversary of this horrific tragedy with a Memorial Swim from Fort Hill Beach westward to the massive channel marker in the center of the Harbor -- near the site where the doomed boat sank. There we will place a memorial wreath in solemn remembrance of the lost children and in loving solidarity with their grieving families and friends.... Those wishing to participate in the Memorial Swim (or to kayak alongside us) should assemble at the West Neck Beach parking lot at 6:30 on Saturday morning, and we will then carpool to Fort Hill Beach for the 7:00 swim out to the channel marker. After the ceremony, we will return to West Neck Beach for our regular 8:00 group swim.... Please email us at westneckpod@verizon.net if you plan to participate in the Memorial Swim (swimming or kayaking). See you in the Salt...

A solemn, somber swim...

It was a solemn group that gathered on the beach at West Neck this morning, our 8:00 swim overshadowed by the overwhelming sadness of the news that three young children, ages 12, 11 and 8, had drowned in the dark waters off Lloyd Neck Wednesday night when their overcrowded boat capsized as it was leaving the harbor after the Dolans' annual Fourth of July fireworks display off  Cove Neck. Thankfully, 24 people were saved, plucked from the water by other boaters who rushed to the scene, and by the firefighters, police and divers who responded from all of the local emergency agencies and departments, but their lives will be forever changed by this tragedy...and even to me, that channel marker in the middle of our harbor will now always seem a headstone to the three children trapped in the boat's cabin, whose lives ended there in our beloved harbor, within sight of the route that we traverse routinely in our daily swims.  As we stood this morning on the beach looking northward, we could see the two police boats still anchored over the area where the boat came to rest on the bottom, in 70 feet of water, and before we entered the water for a healing Sailboat swim, we stood together on the sand for a long moment, heads bowed, offering silent thoughts and prayers for the lost children, their friends and families, and the would-be rescuers who were unable to save them....See you in the Salt. Amen.