Magician David Blaine, who famously survived seven days submerged in a water tank, was escorted out of the ocean yesterday by two furious lifeguards in the Hamptons who had warned him to stay on shore.
One of the lifeguards, who asked to remain anonymous, said the celebrity daredevil disregarded strict advisories to stay out of the waters churned up by Hurricane Bill, and dived in with two pals at Necox Beach in Watermill.
“They were warned not to go in because of the hurricane surf conditions,” the lifeguard said.
So Blaine and his buddies walked farther east and plunged in.
The current pulled the men back west and “it looked like they needed help,” the lifeguard said. “It looked like they got sucked out and one of them was panicking.”
She and a fellow lifeguard swam out and “I was giving [Blaine] tips on how to get back to shore OK,” she said. “He stayed close to me and was taking my guidance.”
Blaine, 36, who said he and his friends got out unassisted, “was making a joke about it, saying things like, ‘You lifeguards earned your money today,’ ” she said.
But she didn’t see the humor, noting the stunt put the lifeguards who went in after the men at risk.
In Maine, a 7-year-old New York City girl was killed in Acadia National Park in Bar Harbor, when she was swept out to sea.
She was part of a crowd of thousands who lined the shoreline to watch the waves, which were 12 to 15 feet high, said Chief Park Ranger Stuart West. A rogue wave swept in and hit seven onlookers — who were 100 feet from the water — and carried out to sea. Four were able to get out by themselves.
The other three, the young girl, her dad and a 12-year-old Maine girl not related to them, were picked up by the Coast Guard. But the 7-year-old later died.
Another 11 people were hospitalized, mostly with broken bones, after they were hit by the wave.
Locally, swimmers were banned from beaches, but it was surf city for thousands riding waves up to 16 feet high from Montauk to the Rockaways.
Daniel Mastey, 24, of Rockaway Park, broke his legs after venturing onto a jetty to launch his surfboard.
He was taken to Jamaica Hospital.
A neighbor said Mastey had once worked as a lifeguard.
“I’ve been surfing over 10 years and I would never do that. He lived — he’s lucky,” said surfer Mike Taylor, 46, of East Brunswick, NJ.
Mastey’s accident was at one of two designated surfing-only beaches in the Rockaways — both open all year round but unguarded.
In Coney Island, two cops risked life and limb to rescue an elderly man who had crawled on a jetty, apparently to take a swim.
Maurichiu Burman, 76, was out about 100 feet from shore on top of the rocks when Officer Sean Felician and Sgt. Glenn Amico grabbed him at around 8:50 a.m.
“I’ve never seen waves like that here at Coney Island,” said Amico, a 19-year veteran.
Additional reporting by Cathy Burke, Ed Robinson andEdmund DeMarche