As Search for Missing Swimmer is Scaled Back, A Mother's Anguish Sets In

U.S. Coast Guard officials today called off the active search for a missing 24-year-old swimmer who vanished off the Orange County coastline last night as rescuers conceded it was more likely he drowned.

``We had an impressive initial search last night, but, unfortunately nowwe're scaled back to a recovery mode,'' Seal Beach Lifeguard Chief Joe Baileysaid.

Seal Beach lifeguards will continue searching for Jowayne Binford of Long Beach throughout today as other rescue workers from the Coast Guard and other Orange County agencies scale back, Bailey said.  

Binford was one of four young men who entered the water at Surfside Wednesday evening in spite of a high surf advisory scheduled to remain in force until Friday night, according to Seal Beach police.

``After experiencing a strong rip current, the young men attempted to exit the water,'' said a Seal Beach Police Department statement, adding that only three of them made it.The man who failed to return was last seen by lifeguards around 6 p.m., the Seal Beach statement said. He was about 200 yards offshore, between Sunset Beach and the northern entrance of Anaheim Bay, added a Coast Guard statement.`

`The lifeguards reported seeing him in the water, and then not anymore,'' Kelly said. Seal Beach police have contacted made contact the missing man's family.Binford's mother, Gail Binford, told KABC-7 that her son is ``not even a beach person, not even into beach water.''

She expressed frustration that her son's companions had not contacted her.`I think it's really just terrible, leaving him out there to just disappear,'' Gail Binford said.  

Bailey said the man ``was on a body board. The body board washed ashore, so its a bad sign.''  

Binford's disappearance triggered a response involving the Coast Guard, the Orange County Sheriff's Department's Newport Harbor Patrol, Long Beach lifeguards and the Huntington Beach Police Department, which supplied a helicopter, the Coast Guard reported.

The search was scaled back due to darkness but was resumed in full after sunrise today. In the meantime, as a Coast Guard helicopter searched from above, the agency's 87-foot cutter  Narwhal plied the waters off Huntington Beach overnight amid swells of up to 10 feet, Kelly said.

A witness told KCAL that the man who disappeared and his friends entered the water even after they were warned by a lifeguard to stay close to the shore because the nearby lifeguard station was closing for the night. The lifeguard ``didn't order them out of the water. He said you need to stay close to the shore for your own safety,''   witness Mike Spainhower reported.

Conditions all along the coast were tough for novice swimmers and surfers, Orange County lifeguards reported.In Huntington Beach, waves came in as high as 10 feet, said Huntington Beach lifeguard Lt. Mike Baumgartner.

``The surf is still big, a couple of feet over head,'' Baumgartner said.``Conditions are challenging and not recommended for inexperienced surfers or swimmers.''

In Newport Beach, a large crowd of spectators gathered at the Wedge to see waves as high as 12 feet, Lifeguard Officer John Moore said.The sets were averaging 6 to 7 feet high, Moore said, adding the waves will be high through tomorrow morning.

``Guards are out talking to a lot of people trying to educate them,'' Moore said. ``There's a large group of surfers using the water and a lot of spectators at the Wedge. We expect to see a larger crowd by the end of the day.''

In Seal Beach``the surf is disappointingly small,'' Bailey said.Bailey advised swimmers who get in trouble to not fight a rip currentbecause that's when fatigue sets in.

``Relax, swim parallel to shore and then swim ashore,'' Bailey said.``If you're pulled away in a rip tide, don't try to fight it.''

- City News Services