THAT NIGHT SHE LEFT HER CAR ON THE BEACH

What do you get when you combine a surfer in his hooded winter wetsuit, Town Line Road beach, an abandoned red Acura and some world-class surf? Well, you get some of the wildest surfing the South Fork has seen since the Mecca crowds and swells of Ditch Plains this summer. At 7 a.m. this past Sunday, police officials were called to Town Line Road beach in East Hampton, where a surfer and a red Acura shared the icy waves. At the scene, officials waded out, smashed the car windows and fortunately found the vehicle empty.

The owner of the vehicle, Reilly Lucille, 32, is a native of Elk Grove, California. Earlier that morning, before dawn, she was driving along Montauk Highway in her red 1995 Acura and then mistakenly turned south onto Town Line Road. She continued south — it is a straight road — and then where it ends at the dead end of the beach, she just kept right along, hopping down on a little cliff there onto the sand where, soon, she became stuck. Low tide for Sunday, February 18, was at 12:54 a.m. and by the time the car was originally reported seen at 7 a.m., high tide was in full effect. This made it very easy for a car parked on the beach to slip into the surf.

Lucille arrived at Police Headquarters at 1:30 p.m. that afternoon to report she had abandoned the car on the beach when she could not move it off, and that someone should go down there and get it. Apparently she didn’t know about tides. That afternoon, the car was towed out of the surf by Balcuns Service Center to their location on North Main Street in East Hampton.

As you probably can guess, it can be very dangerous to bring your vehicle anywhere near the water unless you know what you are doing. Most passenger vehicles will float on the surface for a short period of time. The rate at which the vehicle sinks can depend on many factors including design, body style, condition and age. Luckily, this red Acura did not see the likes of a watery grave because of the smart person who was able to report it early enough for officials to pull it from the ocean without further incident.

Here are some helpful tips on what to do if your car ends up in the water.

1. Keep sharp, heavy objects in your glove compartment just in case. Try a hammer, for instance.

2. Don’t panic. Remember that you are in the Hamptons and that sunny days will come again. It will cost you a lot of time, energy and maybe even your life if you panic.

3. Unbuckle your seat belt. Then, evaluate your situation. If the vehicle is floating or sinking slowly, you should be able to roll down your windows and swim to safety. If the vehicle is surfing, hang-ten!

4. Sometimes your car will sink quickly and you won’t be able to open the doors or windows. If this is the case, you need to wait for the water pressure inside the vehicle to become equal to the water pressure outside the vehicle. It may sound crazy, but this means you need to let the vehicle sink. The water rushing against your car weighs thousands of pounds. When the two are equalized, you’ll be able to open the door.

5. Once free of the car, get rid of any heavy clothing if you have time, particularly shoes. These will bog you down when you swim for the surface.

According CBS’s “The Early Show,” a car goes into the water every four hours, so don’t dismiss the possibility of this happening to you. What’s in store for Reilly Lucille? Well, let’s just hope she has some good insurance, a sense of humor and a roadmap of East Hampton.