Cape May Leads Way on Beach Safety

CAPE MAY – In 2001, Chad deSatnick broke his neck in the surf off a Cape May beach. That initiated a long road of rehabilitation for him and sparked a cause for the deSatnick family. DeSatnick and his parents, Dennis and Anita, have spent over a decade and a half urging the city to improve the safety of its beaches. 
The natural erosion of beach replenishments creates a steep sand slope in the surf zone and encourages the development of plunging waves that can take unaware beach goers by surprise, throwing them into the hard sand.
Dennis deSatnick chairs the city Beach Safety Advisory Committee, made a pertinent advisory body in January 2017, after the change in council membership following the 2016 election.
At the March 20 council meeting, he gave a progress report.
The Problem
The Cape May beaches, among the first set of such beaches to enjoy a 50-year agreement with the Army Corp of Engineers for federally subsidized replenishment projects, suffer from a steep slope in the surf zone. The surf zone is that area between the high and low water marks on the beach.
According to a Mott MacDonald engineer who spoke at an Aug. 25, 2016, town hall meeting, the beach slope creates a dangerous break which promotes the development of plunging waves. They are waves caused by sudden depth changes. 
The crest of such a wave becomes steeper and can fall into the trough in ways that release most of the wave’s energy all at once, producing what can be a violent impact.
Last year, Cape May approached Cape Regional Medical Center about a project to collect data on beach injuries as a way of convincing a skeptical Army Corps of Engineers that there was a connection between the history of beach replenishments and the slope that encourages upper body injuries.
That project is ongoing and remains at an early stage. Dr. Andria McCoy, the chief medical officer at Cape Regional, was present at the meeting and presented some preliminary findings.
McCoy said that Cape May appeared to have a higher percentage of upper extremity injuries, including neck and head injuries, than the county as a whole.
She also cited the fact that 80 percent of the Cape May injuries seen at Cape Regional due to beach incidents last year were water-related, meaning they occurred in the water rather than elsewhere on the beach. Again, that was a higher percentage than the county as a whole.
She noted as well that the county’s other beaches had many more of their injuries to the lower extremities. 
Committee Progress
In his presentation, deSatnick noted several areas of progress in the last year, especially in areas of public education.
He spoke of the new public address system for the beach which will be partially deployed by the start of this season.
It will cover the area from Second Street to just beyond Convention Hall. “All beach safety personnel will be trained in its use,” he said.
The signage that warns bathers of beach safety issues and also informs them about the specific beach they are entering will continue. Additionally, the safety brochure explains the city’s beach flag system and educates the public on things to avoid such as standing with one’s back to the waves.
An additional effort this year is a page on beach safety in the joint tourism pamphlet published by the city and the Chamber of Commerce of Greater Cape May. 
The page will contain a barcode that a reader can scan with a smart phone and be taken to a series of five short videos on different aspects of beach safety developed by the Beach Patrol.
Lifeguards will continue their education programs in regional schools, informing the area’s children, and hopefully through them their parents, of safe practices on the beach.
Concerning the physical problem of the scarp, defined as a steep slope or small cliff formed by wave action fronting the berm on a beach, deSatnick said that the committee’s actions, with city support, had obtained a state permit to  “knock down the scarp” under emergency situations.
What is still needed, according to deSatnick, is further permission from Fish and Wildlife, as well as the Army Corps, to address the scarp is the environmentally-protected area from Wilmington to Baltimore avenues.
The committee also wants a meeting with the Army Corps before the next scheduled beach replenishment.
“We are not yet where we need to be, but I am proud of what the committee has accomplished this year,” he said.
Capt. Geoff Rife of the Beach Patrol said that Cape May is the model for beach safety activities “from Brigantine to the Point.” 
If so, no small measure of the success is due to the efforts of the Beach Safety Committee and to the faith the current governing body has had in its efforts.
To contact Vince Conti, email vconti@cmcherald.com.