Funeral services are planned beginning Monday for James Jaronczyk, the boater whose body was recovered early Thursday in the Great South Bay off Babylon.
Visiting hours will be Monday and Tuesday from 2 to 4 p.m. and 7 to 9 p.m. at the Charles J. O’Shea Funeral Home in Wantagh, according to the funeral home.
A funeral Mass is scheduled for 9:30 a.m. Wednesday at St. William the Abbot Church on Jackson Avenue in Seaford.
Later that evening, the Village of Babylon plans to honor Jaronczyk with an “Evening of Remembrance” at 640 Fire Island Ave.
Jaronczyk, 28, of Massapequa, was found at 6:45 a.m. after more than four days of searching. He was ejected from a 22-foot boat after witnesses saw it hit a wave about 4:30 p.m. on Sunday.
In a Facebook post, Jaronczyk’s father, Joe Jaronczyk Jr., thanked the Long Island community for their love and support “during the extremely difficult process of recovering & returning my beautiful son James back to his family to be laid to rest.”
Babylon Mayor Mary Adams said the body was found by the Suffolk County Underwater Marine Rescue unit near the Babylon Village Pool, where search teams and divers had been working.
Jaronczyk’s parents have said he was a competitive boat racer who was practicing in his boat near Babylon after leaving John J. Burns Park in Massapequa Park on Sunday morning.
Suffolk police boats and helicopters had searched the waters off Babylon since Sunday using sonar and dive teams.
Family members and friends used personal boats and jet skis to canvas the waters and called on private dive teams and firefighters to search nearby islands and marshes, utilizing drones and underwater robotics.
Family members said Jaronczyk was an accomplished competitor in the Offshore Powerboat Racing Association and was preparing for a race in New Jersey.
Adams said he was on a shortlist to join his brother in the FDNY.
With John Asbury and Lorena Mongelli
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