Last Sunday, a boater reported an upside-down kayak floating in Long Island Sound, just off Compo Beach.
The Westport Police Department Marine Unit raced into action. So did boats from neighboring jurisdictions.
Westport Police radioed information about the incident to private boaters on the water. They shared a photo of the kayak.
Westport Police Marine Unit, with the kayak.
The incident ended fortuitously. Emmah Tait — a Staples High School graduate, and rising sophomore at Colorado State University — had already spotted a man, without a life preserver, clinging to his kayak.
She picked him up and brought him to Ned Dimes Marina, where he had parked his car. Perhaps because of exhaustion, he did not notify police — or anyone else — that his kayak was still in the Sound.
Emmah’s father Chris — a Westport Representative Town Meeting member — learned that she had rescued the kayaker, when he texted her about the missing person. He promptly alerted authorities. (Click here to read the full story.)
Sunday could have been a disaster.
It was not, thanks to this week’s Unsung Heroes: the Westport Police Marine Unit, their colleagues from nearby towns, the private boaters who helped — and of course Emmah and Chris Tait.
(“06880” is proud to honor Unsung Heroes — and tell many other tales of town too. Please click here to support your hyper-local blog.)
Westport Police Marine Unit, scouring the Sound. (Photo/Jim Hood)
Great job Chris and Emmah ❤️🇺🇸 you saved a life!
Great job by the rescuer and first responders. 06880 being kind to the non-PFD wearing kayaker.
Great job Westport fire and Westport pd great job Emmah and Chris
Are there statistics available on actual incidents/rescues by the Compo/WPT beach lifeguards over the course of their season(s)? I have to imagine it’s very low considering the usual conditions of the body of water they guard.
It’s like home insurance. You don’t realize you need it … until you need it.
Sunburns must be the #1 incident. 🙁
I’ll take that reply as no stats available
Lifeguards: Injuries (lots of them). Heatstroke. Missing children. Elderly and disabled people needing assistance.
Feel free to contact Westport Parks & Recreation (lifeguard director Danilo Serra, director Erik Barbieri) yourself. Or better yet, go down and talk to the guards.
Hi Michelle, Welcome to Westport! I am assuming you must be new here because those of us that have been here a while know that Westport does not provide any useful data. On anything. We operate on self-congratulatory anecdotes designed to “prove” whatever point is being made. We just trust that what elected officials and department heads tell us. We like it that way, apparently.
Any data or statistics the town collects for any department (fire, police, public works, p&r, etc) are not regularly made public. And if data is made public it is not organized or available at a granular or raw data level that would make any meaningful analysis possible.
So we are basically flying blind as to how the town is doing and how each department is performing. We just need to trust what the town leaders tell us. Doesn’t that feel good?
In all seriousness, every town department is above average, and everyone is doing a amazing job. Just ask them.
Thank you John, not from here, just have friends in 06880 who drag me to the beach.
But as the blog author notes, none of those incidents happen in the water?
I sense deflection is the norm with this blog. Don’t want to upset the apple cart now do we?
Michelle, this blog is actually the one public place in town that real opinions can be expressed. That is why you never see elected officials comment here unless it is to praise each other. They are really good at that. . Dan does a great job in providing this place and being an honest broker.
Thank you, John.
For those who might be interested, here is data set which shows payments made by the town of Westport paid to vendors from July 2022 through July 2025. The Town posts pdfs each month with this information. I’ve taken the pdfs and put them into this searchable and sortable format. Please feel free to download and use as you wish and/or comment in the google sheet
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1jyr2Dho6OuledFbhE_yMM7plh3I2S-iMPxEeY8DG5GI/edit?usp=sharing
Wasn’t there 20+ kids in the water that were rescued last year?
Nearly 30 young rowers, and 1-2 adult coaches. But it was March – the rescue was by the Police Marine Unit, and other first responders. Lifeguards were not on duty.
In the late 1950’s I was certified to life guard at the NYC Municipal Guard school. Jobs were offered at the Rockaway beaches and the municipal pools. Between undertows and lots of kids who didn’t know how to swim the job was a constant opportunity to use learned skills.
In the early 1960’s I worked at the Palisade interstate park commission pools and lakes in Rockland Coulty NY. Lots of pool saves at Bear Mt Inn pool,Lake Welch pool and Talman Mt Pool- no drownings.
But lakes like ocean beaches are a different problem just like Compo- once a swimmer slips under the water you can’t see them. It doesn’t take much to turn a great day at the beach into a nightmare for a family.
1958 one drowning at Rockland lake beach and 1959 one drowning at Lake Sebago beach- kids pulling themselves out on the area ropes, letting go, quietly slipping under and drowning.
My opinion- pThe only important statistic at Compo or Longshore is no drownings.