Toddler Survives Plunge Off Pier : Rescue: The 13-month-old boy’s baby-sitter and a lifeguard dived in after him when he fell through a rail at San Clemente and plummeted 25 feet into the ocean, then pulled him to safety.

A 13-month-old boy tumbled off the city pier and fell 25 feet into the ocean waves Tuesday, only to be rescued by his baby-sitter who plunged in after him and, later, by a lifeguard.

Felipe Muddah was feeding birds on the pier with baby-sitter Colleen Logsdon and her husband, Chris, at 1:50 p.m. when he suddenly chased the flock, ran into a bench and careened through a one-foot space in the rail, plummeting into the 3-foot-high surf below, officials said.

Logsdon, 31, herself a former lifeguard, flung herself over the rail after him.

“It was very, very scary,” Logsdon said, still shaking six hours after the incident. “I started screaming for help, but nobody came. I saw my husband taking off his shoes, but I knew we didn’t have much time, so I just went. I have no idea really how I got over the rail, I was just so involved in making the rescue.”

Logsdon said she was a lifeguard at a YMCA camp 10 years ago, “but I never jumped off a pier.”

Lifeguard Richard Chew, 46, said he was in the lifeguard tower on the pier keeping watch on what had been a typically slow winter day when suddenly, “two citizens started yelling at me and pointing at the water.”

“I looked out the window and I didn’t see anything, so I went outside and looked over the rail and saw a 1-foot-by-1-foot patch of red floating on the water, and I thought it was a lobster trap because we have had a lot of stuff get washed in by the waves.

“I looked again and I thought maybe it’s some sort of living thing. Then I realized it was a small child, so I jumped over the side. I didn’t even take off my high-top tennis shoes.

“I don’t ever remember an identical situation.”

The water was 60 degrees and the waves were coming in at eight-second intervals, officials said.

Logsdon said she reached the boy first, finding him floating face down in 10 feet of water, wearing his red jacket.

“When I got there, I just held Felipe up and he started choking and coughing,” Logsdon said. “I must have held him for 20 seconds, and the waves were just pounding us. The lifeguard got there and I just handed Felipe to him.”

Chew said he grabbed the baby and tried to grab Logsdon, but the waves were too heavy.

“She kept yelling, ‘I’m a strong swimmer, I’ll be OK,’ ” Chew said. “I was impressed by how composed she was. As long as we were in the water, she was fine. It wasn’t until we reached shore that she lost it a bit.”

Chew said he was knocked under water along with the baby three times but was able to keep Felipe in his grasp.

“When I got to where I could stand up, I waited for Colleen and reached out and pulled her in,” he said. “Then we walked to the shore.”

Paramedics were called, and the baby was taken to Samaritan Medical Center, where he was treated and released.

Logsdon, a waitress at Delaney’s in Dana Point and the mother of two toddlers, has been baby-sitting Felipe about three months.

“When I talked to them (Felipe’s parents), I thought they were going to hate me,” Logsdon said. “But they said he was home, laughing and playing and probably won’t even remember this and they thanked me.”

Chew said he is often asked why the city needs to have lifeguards on duty during the winter.

“This is why,” he said. “I guess I earned my keep today.”