In the pitch-black predawn hours of October 16, 2026, US Coast Guard rescue swimmer Josh Law was lowered from a helicopter into 6 to 8 foot waves about 140 miles off Mexico’s Baja California coast. A boat had capsized and scattered more than two dozen people in the cold, dark water. Guided only by the aircraft’s searchlight amid the roar of the rotors, Law, the sole rescuer in the water, spent nearly two hours swimming from survivor to survivor. He used the buddy-tow technique to flip them onto their backs, tow them through the swells, and place them one by one into the rescue basket, personally saving 16 lives (while 11 others were never found). Exhausted and with little sleep, his dry suit filling with water, he later told the AP, “What I was experiencing was nothing compared to what they were at that point… I just had to keep that in mind.” Even on the flight to San Diego, he treated three survivors for serious wounds consistent with shark bites near Guadalupe Island. True heroism from the Coast Guard team out of Air Station Ventura.