VENTURA : Man Nearly Drowns After Jump Off Pier

An impulsive act of derring-do almost turned to tragedy when a 25-year-old Ventura man jumped off the Ventura Pier and nearly drowned in the turbulent current, authorities said Thursday .

Sterling Lusk, a Ventura resident and Oxnard oil field worker, jumped off the pier with a friend, Shon Smith, 27, about 10 p.m. Wednesday at the pier’s midway point. The two men decided on a whim to leap off the wooden structure to see if they could make it back to the beach, Lusk said in an interview Thursday.

While Smith made it to shore, Lusk was caught in the tidal currents and had to cling to the pier’s pilings for safety for about half an hour.

“I was essentially caught,” Lusk said Thursday. “Every time I would try to swim in, the tide kept pushing me back.”

But just as Lusk reached a point of exhaustion, another man, identified by Ventura police as Charles Griddlestone, 19, spotted Lusk, and swam out from the beach to help the beleaguered swimmer back to the beach.

Griddlestone of Ventura could not be reached for comment.

Lusk was taken to Community Memorial Hospital in Ventura, where he was treated for hypothermia and abrasions and released.

A relieved Lusk said he was grateful for Griddlestone’s assistance.

“I was in trouble. More than once I remember going under and then, out of nowhere, this guy saves me,” Lusk said. “I’d really like to thank him.”