Glimmer of light in otherwise tragic story.
The tragic drowning of Malcolm Jamal-Warner, days ago, could have been very much worse if not for the heroics of surfers. The 54-year-old, most famous for playing Theo Huxtable on the hit sitcom The Cosby Show, was in Costa Rica with his wife and 8-year-old daughter enjoying a prototypical vacation when disaster struck. The family was staying in Playa Cocles, at the very southern end and on the Caribbean side, when Jamal-Warner and his daughter got stuck in a rip current.
Jamal-Warner drowned though nearby surfers valiantly tried to save him and did save his daughter. According to onlookers, the surfers spotted the two struggling and immediately paddled over, one ditched his board and used it to transport the girl back to shore safe and sound. The other, and a volunteer lifeguard, helped bring Jamal-Warner to shore where they performed 45-minutes of CPR before he was transported to the hospital where he was pronounced dead.
A scientist who studies the rips around Playa Cocles shared that they are particularly volatile as they can pop up quickly and race out at over 6 feet a second. The rip pattern, also, circular so difficult to break just by swimming parallel to shore.
Rip currents are responsible for over 50 deaths a year, in Costa Rica. Playa Cocles saw five drownings in eight days alone during a particularly brutal summer in 2004.
Commented on Disqus? Log out, tap the Disqus button, and your old name and comments come back. The box is ours.
Your comments are still here. Every one of them.
Twelve years of BeachGrit comments came across from Disqus. Connect and we will show you how many are yours. We get your username, nothing else.
Connect Disqus to reveal.
Pulled or coached many a tourists over the year to get out of rips. Worst one was an Indian family of 8 with a buddy. I thought a couple were for sure going to die. weirdest thing was the lifeguards were pissed when they pulled up after we got them all into standing water. RIP Theo.
The hard thing about rips and tourists is that the advice is just going to be contradictory. At closeout shore break you spot rips by seeing areas with whitewater or sand. But at Huntington or another double bar setup the defining feature of rips is a lack of whitewater.
Definitely have seen some scary rips like that from seaside to Zuma. Beach breaks so unforgiving.
such a sad story, glad they were able to rescue the girl. Being caught in a rip with a kid is a different level — had a rough moment many years ago on the obx, was holding my 5 year old daughter and was caught in one … even after years and years of being in ocean on a near daily basis , dealing with it while keeping a child above the surface was rough. Made it out ok but definitely freaked me out a little. Thoughts and prayers.
The big man takes Theo and leaves Cosby. Thats fucked up.
no kidding, wtf
Proof there is no ‘big man’
Sometimes wonder if our ego’s created that story..