Jersey Shore Magazine

j e r s e y s h o r e • F A L L / H O L I D A Y 2 0 2 1 71 Toms River. The original boathouse was constructed in 1939 and the original crew quarters in 1976. Both of those buildings suffered severe damage from Superstorm Sandy in 2012 and were razed and replaced with the current state-of-the-art facility, which was officially commis- sioned and opened in 2017. Station Manasquan Inlet's mis- sions over the last eighty-five years have included port, coastal, and Intracoastal Waterway security; search and rescue; recreational and commercial boating safety law enforcement; pollution response; short range aids to navigation; defense readiness; and supporting the war on drugs. The station provided national defense activities during World War II, including rescuing survivors from the burning oil tanker R.P. Resor, which was torpedoed by a German submarine, and reporting on enemy submarine activity. It also pro- vided maritime support and patrols in the days and weeks following the 9-11 attacks. When Station Shark River closed as its own primary unit in 2006, Station Manasquan Inlet's crew picked up coverage duties until the Shark River station was perma- nently closed earlier this year. The USCG built upon the USLSS's strong foundation of search and res- cue, and the roughly thirty crew sta- tioned at Manasquan Inlet embody the service's tenants of honor, respect, and devotion to duty. While most come from other parts of the United States (including Montana, Alaska, Florida, and California), Petty Officer Second Class Dylon O'Donnell is Jersey Shore born and bred and has been stationed at Manasquan Inlet since 2018. "I grew up in Belmar and my parents were educators, so I grew up knowing the value of helping people," he said. O'Donnell explained what a typical day for a Coast Guardsman stationed at Manasquan Inlet is like. "Our day starts at 6:45 AM with breakfast. The culinary staff here is great. They cook us three meals and then go home for the night," O'Donnell said. The rest of the day for a Coast Guardsman depends upon his or her individually assigned duty schedules. Operations often include patrols in support of recreational boating safety inspections or living marine resource boardings. (The latter includes mak- ing sure boats are fishing in legal waters, permits are on board, fish are of legal size, quotas haven't been surpassed, etc.) Station Manasquan Inlet also assists the N.J. State Police, N.J. Division of Fish and Game, the Manasquan Fire Department, and other local law enforcement agencies and first responders. "We'll check fishing permits and boats, and we're always on standby for search-and- rescue operations," said O'Donnell. "There's always an overnight crew in case a search-and-rescue operation happens at night." Manasquan Inlet's fleet currently consists of two boats. The forty- seven-foot motor lifeboat (MLB) can handle heavy weather and tow larger vessels such as trawlers and clamming boats. The MLB is always fully operational with a crew at the ready 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, and locals often see the boat and its crew practicing in the inlet and the waters off Manasquan and Point Pleasant Beach during days of heavy surf and angry seas. The twenty-nine- foot response boat small (RBS) is used primarily for law enforcement but can tow smaller boats. According to O'Donnell, the station participates in about one hundred search-and- rescue operations and three to five hundred vessel boardings each year. O'Donnell explained that Stations Manasquan Inlet and Sandy Hook are two of twenty-three Heavy Weather Stations in the USCG. At these facilities, all stationed crew are certified for duty on twenty-foot seas with thirty-knot winds. The Heavy Weather Stations are classified a step below Surf Stations. Station Barnegat Light, with two motor lifeboats in its fleet, is classified as a Surf Station— which is required where surf greater than eight feet occurs thirty-six days or more each year. One of the aspects of life in the Coast Guard that surprises people is the amount of free time afforded to crew. "There's lots of time off Mariner's view of the old and new buildings at Coast Guard Station Manasquan Inlet. Tom Lynch / AngryFishGallery.com continued on page 72

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