Female Paddleboarder Drowns in Yoga Class

Lisa Margaritis was only 49
By Neal Colgrass,  Newser Staff
Posted Aug 3, 2019 1:30 PM CDT
Female Paddleboarder Drowns in Yoga Class
Stock image.   (Getty Images)

A registered nurse drowned Friday while trying to save another woman in a paddleboard yoga class, CNN reports. Lisa Margaritis, 49, noticed a fellow paddleboarder struggling against the strong Long Island, NY, current and tried helping her, but Margaritis' board got jammed against a bridge piling and she tumbled into the water. Tethered to the board, the experienced paddleboarder couldn't get free.

A passing jogger jumped into Hashamomuck Pond and freed her, and first responders gave her CPR, but Margaritis was later pronounced dead at a Long Island hospital. Her mother, Jean Weber, told Newsday she was "devastated" to learn her only daughter had died. "She was a hero in my eyes," said Weber, who called her "a very good kid. She wanted to save somebody else. She was always kind." (In other sad news, a newlywed says her husband drowned during his first ocean swim.)

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