Isaac has effects at Shore as well

POINT PLEASANT BEACH, N.J. - Rough seas from a tropical storm more than 1,100 miles away led to the ocean rescue of a boy caught in a rip current on Monday and may have contributed to the disappearance of a police officer who was boating off Wildwood.

Tropical Storm Isaac was taking aim at the Gulf of Mexico, but it also caused problems at the Jersey Shore, snatching swimmers up in rip currents, keeping lifeguards on their toes, and forcing some beachgoers to stay on the sand during the last week of the unofficial summer season.

Beaches in many coastal communities flew yellow cautionary flags that limited bathers to ankle- or knee-deep water.

Lifeguards reported an increase in the number of rescues they had made in recent days as rip currents strengthened.

In Point Pleasant Beach, lifeguard Mike Cestaro ran into the surf to help a young boy who found himself in a rip current.

"You can actually see the rip current," he said seconds after helping the boy to shore. "He could swim pretty well, but he just got caught. . . . I just went out and got him before he started to panic or struggle."

Cestaro said the swells were a direct result of the storm, though it was on the western side of Florida. The storm had churned up the ocean for a few days, he said.

"We had a couple saves yesterday, too," he said. "It's probably going to be like this for another day or two."

In Cape May County, the Coast Guard searched Monday for a boater off of Wildwood. Middle Township Police Officer Jason Sill, 39, of Cape May Court House, was seen leaving a marina at 11 a.m., according to the agency. A boater came across his 23-foot pleasure craft unmanned and adrift about a mile offshore and called authorities around noon.

Coast Guard officers found the keys in the boat's ignition with the throttle forward. Fishing poles also were discovered aboard the craft.

Conditions varied from town to town. In some places, rough surf and large waves led lifeguards to keep beachgoers from going into water deeper than their knees. Other nearby beaches were unaffected.

While Point Pleasant Beach was yellow-flagged, beaches in nearby Manasquan flew green flags and the surf was noticeably calmer - too calm for about two dozen surfers trying to find suitably large waves near the inlet dividing the coastal communities.

Ruslana Rusynyak of Millstone brought her three children to Point Pleasant Beach and sat at the water's edge as the surf washed over them. But they dared not venture further into the waves.

"The kids are really upset because they can't go in anymore and they get sand in their pants," she said.