Temporary buoy set up to assist Jones Beach Inlet boaters

A temporary buoy has been set at the west end of the Jones Beach Inlet jetty to help boaters navigate the channel, the Coast Guard said Friday.

The setting of the buoy also signals a September start of repairs to the superstorm Sandy-ravaged inlet, the agency said in a news release.

The temporary aid, a radar reflective lighted buoy, replaces a similar unlit buoy that had marked the channel following the destruction of the Jones Beach light as a result of Sandy.

The new aid "is being set to better serve the maritime community at Jones Beach," Coast Guard Chief Warrant Officer J.T. Green said in a news release. "A permanent solution, which is rebuilding the Jones Beach light tower, will be completed once the Army Corps of Engineers fixes the damage to the jetty and the base of the light."

Green said engineers are expected to start work on the jetty in September and it could take three to five months to complete.

The temporary buoy is white with orange stripes and will flash a white light every 2.5 seconds, the news release said. The light is visible for six nautical miles, which is consistent with the characteristics of the Jones Inlet light it replaces.

Boaters can find additional information at the Coast Guard Navigation Center website, www.navcen.uscg.gov/?pageName=lnmDistrict®ion=1.

Superstorm Sandy dislodged the jetty rocks and destroyed a light tower used by boaters to navigate the inlet, which boaters said was already hazardous to navigate at night and during inclement weather.

The inlet connects southern Long Island to the Atlantic Ocean.

The Coast Guard, which manages the navigational tower, and the Army Corps, which manages the jetty rocks, had originally scheduled repairs for fiscal year 2014.

At a July 8 news conference at Jones Beach, Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) was joined by local boaters and fisherman who wanted the work to be completed sooner.

With Fausto Giovanny Pinto