Grandpa Grabs the Day
David Coffee—friends call him Bean—was just looking for a mellow Tuesday paddle at New Smyrna Beach. Instead, the 72-year-old ended up starring in his own rescue reel. Bean heard panicked calls for help, spotted two heads drifting toward the Bahamas, and clocked in like it was 1969. Two heat-style sprints on his longboard later, the father-and-son set were breathing easy on the sand while Bean re-lived the toughest paddle session of his life. “Good thing I was there,” he told WSVN as captured here. Bean’s teenage lifeguard muscle memory kicked in, proving the ocean never forgets a local legend—even after fifty summers.
Moral: always surf with someone old enough to know the old tricks—and strong enough to still use them.