Teen Surfer Reflects On Rescue Of 3 Men From Bay Head Rip Current

Point Pleasant NJ

18 November, 2021

2:39 PM

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BAY HEAD, NJ — Kayla Smith is like so many 16-year-olds: When she's not in school, she's hanging out with friends, going skateboarding or snowboarding or surfing, and she's still trying to figure out what she wants to do when she graduates from high school. "I know I want to do something to help others," Kayla said. Helping people is something that comes naturally to the Point Pleasant High School junior. She volunteers busing tables at the Manasquan Elks Lodge breakfasts and has helped with the annual beach cleanups. And it's her willingness to help that led to her pulling three men from the ocean on the Howe Avenue beach on Sept. 26, a lifesaving rescue that has brought her so much attention. Get local news updates delivered to your inbox. Sign up for Patch alerts and daily newsletters here. "I didn't even think about it. It was just a natural instinct," Kayla said, recalling how she grabbed her surfboard and ran to the water to help the men, who had gotten caught in a rip current. She was on the beach waiting for her mother, Sharon, to pick her up, taking photos of friends who were surfing, when two women ran up to her, frantically seeking help. She was able to get the three men safely to shore by having the men hold onto her surfboard and kick while she paddled in. The rescue came amid a string of dangerous rip current weekends at the Jersey Shore, where there were dozens of people rescued and at least two people drowned. In first hours afterward, she didn't really give it much thought. "I had work that day," Kayla said. She had texted her mother saying "you'll never believe what happened," but she was focused on the fact that she had to get to her job on the boardwalk. "I literally ran home and hopped in the shower." It was at work where the enormity began to settle in. Her mother had shared Kayla's heroics in a post on Facebook, and Kayla's phone started blowing up while she was at work. "All these people started texting me," Kayla said. "I had a bunch of notifications on my phone." She said she asked her boss for a moment sit and gather herself and respond to some of the messages. "It made me realize I just saved three lives," she said. The attention picked up momentum after Kayla shared the details of the rescue with Gregory Andrus, who runs the Portraits of the Jersey Shore Facebook page where he highlights good deeds as well as the stories of everyday people from all walks of life. His post the following day was shared more than 1,100 times and set off a whirlwind of attention. "Everywhere I went people recognized me," she said. In school and around town, friends and classmates were calling her the local hero. She's been honored by Bay Head officials and was interviewed by News 12, and the story was picked up by the New York Post and shared by the website A Mighty Girl, which highlights actions by girls that improve the world. At one point it started to become overwhelming. "Can I isolate myself for one day?" she said. "I've never had that much attention on myself." The attention allowed the three men, who live in Connecticut, to track her down and thank her. "They sent a card to me at the high school," Kayla said, adding there is a possibility she will meet up with them in person when they come to the Shore again. Now that the whirlwind has settled down, she has become more comfortable with it. "My friends have been extremely supportive," she said. "Everyone in the school knows. It's a cool feeling." It's also given her some perspective not only on what happened that day, but on the future. Kayla isn't a lifeguard and has not had lifeguard training, and while she considered it for a moment when asked, said it was unlikely she would pursue it. "I'm at the beach all summer," she said, noting that she goes surfing nearly every day between hanging out with friends and competing on Point Boro's surfing team. She said she prefers working elsewhere because it's a change of scenery. "I like being in different environments." Kayla, who was recently inducted into the National Honor Society at Point Pleasant High School, said she's trying to decide where she wants to attend college, but said it likely will be somewhere she can either snowboard or surf. "It'll either be really, really warm or really, really cold," she said with a laugh. The experience of saving the three men also has made her more aware of how someone can be in trouble in the water and how it can go unnoticed. "I'm just more aware now," Kayla said. "I was taking pictures of the surfers and the guys are right next to them. They looked like they were OK but you just never know." She thinks they may have been trying to wade to a sandbar when they got pulled out by the rip current. "It was windy that day and the current was really moving," Kayla said. "Anything can happen no matter how athletic you are," she said. "You could feel safe and that (getting caught in a rip current) could still happen." It's why she avoids surfing alone. "You could easily get hurt," she said. "As long as there's one other person there, I'll surf." Because you never know when you will be that one person when someone else needs helps. Have a news tip? Email [email protected] Follow Point Pleasant Patch on Facebook.