A Hollywood Ocean Rescue lifeguard's family vacation turned into a real-life rescue when a speedboat-towed tube crashed into an anchored catamaran off Aruba, throwing several of his relatives into the water and leaving him uncertain whether they were alive. Marcelo Lorenzo said he did not know whether his family members were dead or seriously hurt in the chaotic moments after the crash on August 11.
Lorenzo and his family were riding two tubes traveling alongside one another when, according to officials, the boat pulling them made a wide turn that sent one tube crashing at high speed into the anchored catamaran, as reported by WPLG Local 10. The impact threw multiple family members into the water, and Lorenzo said he immediately began searching for them. “I remember swimming over there, I was like, ‘this is scary’ and I was thinking the worst,” Lorenzo said.
Lorenzo said he found his cousin unconscious and face-down in the water and checked her for a pulse before working to keep her afloat until catamaran employees could help pull her from the water. He then found his father trapped beneath the catamaran, according to Lorenzo, and pulled him toward a ladder to help him to safety.
A Lifeguard's Training Kicks In Overseas
Lorenzo relied on his professional lifeguard training during the emergency, and Hollywood Fire Rescue said he helped save lives during what officials described as an extraordinary emergency. He is now being honored for helping save several family members during the water incident in Aruba. Officials say professional lifeguard training and preparedness can make a difference when seconds count.
Lorenzo works for the City of Hollywood's Fire Rescue & Beach Safety Division, an ISO Class 1 rated department that operates six fire stations with more than 200 personnel, including 25 state-certified EMT full-time lifeguards and 33 part-time lifeguards trained in advanced lifesaving techniques, according to the City of Hollywood. The department had also just expanded its own marine response capabilities weeks before Lorenzo's family trip, deploying a new Rigid Inflatable Boat for rapid offshore response and installing life rings at every lifeguard tower along Hollywood Beach in August 2026.
Questions Remain About Safety Compliance in Aruba
The crash raises questions about whether the commercial boat operator followed Aruba's watersport safety rules. Under a June 2024 update to Aruba's National Decree on Public Waters and Beaches, all commercial boats towing tubers, banana boats, or parasailers are required to carry a dedicated spotter or co-pilot on board in addition to the driver, according to Bati Bleki. The same 2024 policy also required commercial watersport vessels to be outfitted with stainless steel propeller guards, effective January 2025. It remains unclear from available information whether the boat involved in Lorenzo's family's crash had a spotter aboard or complied with the newer equipment mandates.
By comparison, U.S. federal safety guidelines for towed watersports require at least two people on board any towing vessel — a driver and a dedicated observer at least 13 years old — along with Coast Guard-approved life jackets for all towed riders, according to Drive a Boat USA. The National Safety Council also recommends that boat operators towing tubers keep tow ropes between 50 and 75 feet and use mandatory hand signals between spotter and rider to prevent dangerous whip turns and collisions with fixed objects.
Tubing's Outsized Injury Risk
The crash that hurt Lorenzo's family fits a pattern researchers have long flagged about towable watersports. A study published in the Journal of Physical Activity & Health found that emergency room visits for water tubing injuries in the U.S. surged 250 percent over a 19-year period, with head injuries accounting for 27.5 percent of all emergency cases, as reported by ScienceDaily. Research from Nationwide Children's Hospital found that impact with the water caused 49 percent of tubing injuries treated in emergency rooms, while collisions with other tubers or stationary objects caused 16 percent of incidents.
Separate research from DAN Research found that among all water-based recreational boating activities, tubing was the single most common activity sending riders to the emergency room for sprains, strains, and fractures. Nationwide, U.S. Coast Guard data cited by the WHA Information Center recorded 3,887 boating incidents in 2024, resulting in 556 fatalities and 2,170 injuries. For Lorenzo's family, the outcome could have been far worse had a trained lifeguard not been in the water with them.
