Thursday, October 1, 2026
When Samantha Dupler came to Long Beach last Sunday, she said she was aware of not only strong rip currents, but possible shark sightings.
"I heard that there were rip tides and sharks, so I only went up to my ankles," said Dupler, of Rockville Centre, who hit the beach at Lafayette Boulevard with her sister. "We were being extra careful, and the lifeguards' whistles were going off quite
a bit."
Dupler was one of thousands who visited Long Beach last weekend amid sweltering temperatures, in what lifeguards said was an unusually busy weekend that included strong rip currents, numerous rescues and rumors of sharks in the water. On Sunday alone, lifeguards made more than 30 rescues of swimmers in distress, although none were seriously hurt, said Chief of Lifeguards Paul Gillespie. The rip currents were stronger than usual, he said, due to tropical storm Colin, which made its way toward Bermuda over the weekend.
"We had a big, big weekend and a lot of people were in the water," Gillespie said. "When the lifeguards are on duty we have a very good staff, and they don't fool around. Some people just got out too far and lost their footing as they were sucked out by rip currents. We also did a lot of preventive lifesaving to make sure people didn't get caught out there."
Ray Ellmer, a longtime lifeguard at Edwards Boulevard, described Sunday as an "extreme" day. "Very rarely do we get hurricane surf during a sunny day," Ellmer said. "Usually big storms don't trek up this early."
Ellmer said that at times on Sunday, the waves were as big as 10 feet, and lifeguards worked hard to keep swimmers safe, particularly near jetties. "It was perfect beach weather with tremendous and extreme rip currents on every beach," he said. "We must have had about 3,000 preventive rescues, when people are already in the water but we're moving them into safer water."
Gillespie downplayed rumors of reported shark sightings, saying that what people really saw were stingrays and explaining that because rays swim on their side, they can be mistaken for shark fins. He added that they don't pose a danger to swimmers unless they're approached.
"The reason we know it wasn't sharks is because we used jet skis to check out the rumors, and it turned out to be stingrays," Gillespie said. "We've also had a lot of dolphins this summer, usually swimming in schools of 10, as well as whales."
Jill Zuckerman, 30, was at the beach on Sunday and noticed the attentiveness of lifeguards. "I heard that currents were insane," said Zuckerman, a member of Surfer's Way, a local nonprofit organization that teaches children with special needs how to surf. "The beaches were crowded and I think it was one of the busiest weekends I've seen so far. The water has been pretty rough, but the lifeguards have been pretty good at keeping swimmers in designated safe areas."
Gillespie said that after lifeguards go off-duty at 6 p.m., a response team of six or more lifeguards is stationed at lifeguard headquarters until 8 p.m. The team works with police when distress calls come in after regular beach hours.
"You don't want to swim where there are no lifeguards," he said. "The police have been really good — they notify us after hours and we go out there. And a lot of beachgoers assisted as well, including volleyball players and surfers."
There has been some concern about sharks recently, particularly after several sand sharks were sighted on the New Jersey shore a few weeks ago. Gillespie and others, however, said that it is very rare for sharks to swim close to the shore in Long Beach. "Right now there is no danger — I'm not saying the sharks don't come in, but they typically don't come in that close to the shore," Gillespie said. "Also, once someone says they think they saw a shark, it spreads like wildfire, and it was Shark Week on the Discovery Channel."
Ellmer said he believes that more marine life is flourishing off the coast of Long Beach due to cleaner waters. "It's a sign that the ocean is getting cleaner, and each year we're getting more marine life, including dolphins, seals, stingrays and humpback whales," he said.
According to Ellmer, the last shark attack in Long Beach was in the 1930s. "Reports of bull sharks off New Jersey do make us have reason for concern, because they can feed in six feet of water and are very aggressive," he said. "But lifeguards always keep their eyes on the water. We're trained to see any fins."
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