Missing swimmer off Naples beach prompts search by multiple emergency response units

Multiple units from Collier County emergency response departments searched for a missing swimmer Saturday in the Gulf.

The search was suspended at sundown Saturday and resumed Sunday morning with divers searching the area. By midday Sunday, the Naples Police Department identified the missing swimmer as Matthew Britton.

An alert from police said Britton was reportedly last seen about 50 yards off the beach located in the 2100 block of Gordon Drive. The beach is in the Aqualane Shores neighborhood in the City of Naples, just north of Port Royal.

Police said witnesses reported last seeing him swimming shortly before 2:15 p.m. Saturday but did not see him resurface.

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Crews from Naples Fire Rescue, Greater Naples Fire Rescue District, Collier County Sheriff's Office and Marco Island Fire Rescue took part in the search operations. Assets including boats, divers and aerial units were used in the search.

Weather conditions at the beach

Photos and video clips of the search posted on the Facebook site of Naples Fire Rescue showed choppy conditions and a tide coming in for a high water mark shortly after 7 p.m.

Victoria Penn of Naples, who was on the beach at the time of Britton's disappearance, said there was a strong current offshore at the time.

"A pretty strong one that could take a swimmer sideways," she said. "I also spoke to a lady who was in the water the same time as the young men were. She was swimming close by them. She got out because of the current and the water was very cold yesterday. There were winds blowing off shore off the ocean."

Penn, who said she is a certified scuba diver, described conditions windy enough Saturday for some beachgoers to be wearing hoods.

"I also walked about a mile on the beach and when I returned and walked north, the wind was blowing in my face so I put my hood to my jacket up," she said. "I saw the young men in the water when I first set my chair down and I thought, 'Wow, they’re in the water and it’s freezing I can imagine! What are they doing in the water?' There were about five or six of them in the water."

No rip tide warning issued

Rodney Wynn, a forecaster from the National Weather Service in Tampa, said Sunday that conditions both Saturday and Sunday were not enough to prompt a call for rip tide warnings.

"That doesn't mean there couldn't have been one," he said. "Just that we did not issue a warning."

Wynn said the forecast for Saturday was for winds of five to 10 knots and waves of two feet or less.

"Weather conditions were not conducive for a high risk of rip current," he said. However, he cautioned if there was a jetty, pier or inlet nearby, that could increase the chances of a rip tide.

Gordon Pass, where Naples Bay meets the Gulf, is just south of the beach where Britton went missing.

According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, rip tides are dangerous narrow currents in the surf zone that move quickly away from shore.

A typical rip current ranges from 50 to 100 feet wide and can extend 100 yards or more offshore. It can reach speeds of over 5 miles per hour, faster than an Olympic swimmer.

A NOAA explanation of rip currents said waves don’t have to be huge for a rip current to form — two or three feet are all it takes. And the weather doesn’t have to be bad for a rip current to emerge. They often occur days after a storm and are usually strongest near low tide but can form at any time.

Britton was last seen wearing a black tank top with black and gray camouflage

shorts.

Anyone with information about Britton is asked to call Naples police at 239-213-3000.

Connect with breaking news reporter Michael Braun: MichaelBraunNP (Facebook), @MichaelBraunNP (Twitter) or mbraun@news-press.com.

This article originally appeared on Naples Daily News: Collier rescue teams search Gulf for missing swimmer Matthew Britton