Boater gets caught in heavy surf — then man with binoculars spots him, Oregon cops say
A boater was rescued after a man with binoculars spotted his boat caught in heavy surf off the Oregon coast, authorities said.
The man called 911 at around 2 p.m. on Sunday, Oct. 23, and told dispatchers he saw a “boat with one person” being “hit by large waves” while trying to cross Rogue River Bar, the Curry County Sheriff’s Office said in a Oct. 24 Facebook post.
The man said the boat became disabled and began to drift “south in heavy seas,” according to the post.
Dispatchers contacted the United States Coast Guard and coordinated with other first responders, the sheriff’s office said.
After two Gold Beach Police Officers arrived at the beach “just south of the South Jetty,” they saw a “disabled boat with one person on it” about “300 feet offshore in the breaking surf line and drifting quickly south,” according to the sheriff’s office.
Luke Martinez, an aquatic marine safety officer, joined the rescue as a Curry County Search and Rescue member, the sheriff’s office said. He first tried to “swim with his rescue board out through the south side of the mouth of the Rogue River but kept getting pushed back in due to the bar breaking all the way across.”
When this failed, Martinez “went south of the jetty” while other rescuers monitored the boat to relay its location to Martinez, the sheriff’s office said. He began to paddle through the heavy waves and toward the boat.
Just before that, the boat’s operator, Michael Malouf, 52, had jumped into the churning water, the sheriff’s office said, as his disabled boat began to take on water with the large waves.
“Martinez was able to reach Malouf in the breaking surf, get him on the rescue board and swim him to the beach about a half mile south of the South Jetty near the Fairgrounds Event Center,” the sheriff’s office said.
Some passersby who watched the rescue “tied the boat off to a beached log” after it washed ashore nearby, according to the sheriff’s office.
First responders tended to Malouf, who had hypothermia, before he was taken to a hospital, the Facebook post said. He was treated and released “a little while later.”
“The quick response by SAR Member and Aquatic Safety Officer, Luke Martinez, undoubtedly saved the life of Michael Malouf, who was wearing a life preserver during the incident,” the sheriff’s office said.
Gold Beach is about 195 miles southwest of Eugene.
This story was originally published October 25, 2022 at 8:48 AM with the headline "Boater gets caught in heavy surf — then man with binoculars spots him, Oregon cops say."
