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A naked woman was rescued far out in the water from the Newport Beach coast and officials are still flummoxed over how she got there. Around 10 a.m. last Sunday, two kayakers heard a 28-year-old woman calling for help in the water three miles out from the Newport Harbor jetty, reports the L.A. Times. They found the woman—whose identity has not been released—alone without a boat, floatation devices or even a bathing suit. Just to clarify, "she was completely naked," Sgt. D.J. Haldeman of the Orange County Sheriff's Department Harbor Patrol told the Times.
The woman managed to stay afloat in the deep waters since the night before, according to the Harbor Patrol. She said she had been swimming near 19th Street on Saturday around 5:30 p.m.—about three miles up the coast from where she was found—when a rip current swept her out to sea. Some time during her roughly 16-hour ordeal, she ditched her swimsuit "so it wouldn't restrict her in her abilities to swim," Haldeman tells the Times. Harbor Patrol deputies fully expected to treat her for hypothermia, but impressively she seemed fine.
Besides her lack of swimwear and good condition after a long, cold swim, authorities are also puzzled by how the woman got out there in the first place. Officials haven't been able to find anyone who saw the woman go into the water Saturday night, including lifeguards stationed near 19th Street. The woman said that she left her belongings there, but the Fire Department hasn't been able to find any unattended items. If they had been found Saturday night, it would have triggered an investigation into her disappearance.
And while strong rip currents along the coastline have been endangering a record number of swimmers lately, Newport Beach lifeguard David Pratt tells the Times that it would be impossible for a rip current to pull the woman 3 miles out. Typically the currents dissipate 50 to 200 feet out and even during extreme surf conditions they would only pull for 500 or 600 feet. This woman was found three miles out and roughly three miles down the coastline.
"She was really far out," Manzella told the Times.
