This winter, Pipeline has been more dangerous than it’s been in years. Dylan McGinn, a bodyboarder from New Jersey, is the newest casualty of the infamous wave. Without the exceptional efforts of North Shore lifeguards and Pipe specialist Jamie O’Brien, he would be dead.
McGinn pulled into a closeout yesterday and hit the reef, knocking himself out. Guilherme Tamega, an off-duty lifeguard and bodyboarding world champ, was the first to reach him when he surfaced. Jamie O’Brien quickly paddled over to help out, while on duty lifeguards scrambled to get him to safety.
When McGinn was finally on the sand, he wasn’t breathing and had no pulse. Miraculously, after lifeguards began CPR and used defibrillators, he regained a pulse and began breathing on his own. He was taken to the hospital in serious condition.
McGinn joins the likes of Owen Wright, Bede Durbidge, and Evan Geiselmann, all of whom have sustained disastrous injuries at Pipeline. Wright, who hit his head so hard his brain started bleeding, has been forced to pull out of the first half of the 2016 season. Durbidge crushed his pelvis just a few days later, while Geiselman drowned after a three-wave hold down. He was rescued by bodyboarder Andre Botha–who, incidentally, just broke his back at Waimea shorebreak.
Best wishes to McGinn for a speedy recovery, and thanks to everyone who keeps an eye out in the water.
