Coast Guard and a private boat help rescue kayakers struggling in seas off Cambria

Multiple agencies responded to a distress call off the coast Saturday afternoon, according to Cambria Community Services District Fire Department interim Capt. Ryan Maloney, and a private boat ended up helping rescue a pair of kayakers.

Cambria Fire responded to the call at Leffingwell Landing at 12:13 p.m. and cleared the incident at 2:16 p.m.

Two kayakers were assisting two males who were struggling to get back into their kayaks. A fishing boat named The Endeavor happened to hear the emergency call and picked up the two people in the water and their kayaks, Maloney said.

The other two people still in their kayaks were escorted back to shore by a jet ski and an inflatable boat.

The kayakers were about three miles off shore, according to Maloney, when they were hit by strong winds and two of them ended up flipped over.

“We have a wind coming out of the northwest and if they launched straight out, it makes for a very hard paddle back,” Maloney said.

A Coast Guard boat arrived and escorted The Endeavor back to the Morro Bay Harbor station, according to Maloney.

The Coast Guard took a distressed individual and their caretaker into Morro Bay for further evaluation, Maloney said.

It is unclear if there were any injuries, according to Cambria paramedic Michael Deleo.

Maloney recommends that kayakers in the area paddle north in the morning in order to be assisted by northwesterly winds as they return to shore.

This story was originally published August 14, 2022 at 11:35 AM.