Edison surfers save eight

For most students, spring break is a time to relax and leave responsibility behind. But for a few members of the Edison High School surf team, this spring break was a time to save eight lives.

Just as the team was wrapping up a weeklong surfing trip to Mexico earlier this month, three students and two parents rescued eight people caught in a riptide that had carried them out to sea.

“These people didn’t know how to swim,� said team coach Zorn Forgiarini. “But luckily this group were on it right away. These are great kids.�

The trip started out much more relaxing, Forgiarini said. Team members surfed Mexico’s Costa Azul, north of Puerto Vallarta, during the day, and they relaxed in the evenings.

“Each morning we’d drive to a port and take boats out to breaks,� he said. “There were killer waves, we had a swell coming in, and the kids were awesome. Everything was just going perfect.�

April 6— Good Friday — was the second-to-last day of the trip. The waves were smaller that day — head-high at most, team member Ian Fewell remembers. Most of the team had already packed up and left.

“There were locals, eight of them, right in the whitewash in front of us,� he said. “They were just playing in the shallow water.�

Fewell’s father Chris Fewell, who surfs as well, said it was just then, as only three students and two parents were still on the water, that strong currents dragged the residents out to sea.

“We were going to catch one or two more waves,� he said. “Looking back on it, I realized I had heard these screams for help in Spanish. We thought they were just playing in the water.�

Ian Fewell, who was one of the closest to the victims, said he remembers swimming out 50 feet with his board to the endangered group.

“One lady was actually pregnant and couldn’t swim,� he said. “I had to get her out of the water and on my board. By holding the nose of my surfboard I just swam with one arm and kicked. We got her in, and she was able to walk the rest of the way.�

The four others teamed up and got the rest in, including a woman already starting to take in water and a 300-pound man. The hardest part was keeping them calm across a language barrier, the elder Fewell said.

There was never a danger to the rescuers, he added. The current was strong, but their swimming was stronger.

“You think about the danger afterward, but we had plenty of juice left,� he said.

The other students who were part of the rescue were team captain Rob McCarty and Chad Masri. Parent Keith Devine also took part.