Person found onshore by county Emergency Services personnel
Shortly after 4 p.m. on Saturday, Jan. 31, Sarasota County Fire Department personnel responded to a call about a paddleboarder last seen southbound past Point of Rocks, off Crescent Beach. The person was beyond the breakers and apparently unable to get back to shore because of the wind, the Fire Department reported.
After a search, firefighters/medics with the rescue unit from Fire Station 13, which stands just south of Siesta Public Beach, found a person “walking on the beach near Turtle Beach with paddleboard in hand,” the report said. The crew gave the individual a ride back to his vehicle, which was located “several miles away,” the report noted.
The paddleboarder had entered the water at Beach Access 5, the report pointed out. Beach Access 5 stands at 200 Beach Road.
A lifeguard, plus other rescue personnel from Station 13, did search onshore and in the Gulf but found no one else, the report explained.
Units were dispatched at 4:04 p.m.; the first ones arrived at the scene at 4:09 p.m., the report noted. The Rescue 13 firefighters/medics cleared the scene at 4:38 p.m., the report said.
Units from Fire Station 11, which stands at 2200 Stickney Point Road — near Gulf Gate — and Fire Station 3, which is located on North Adams Drive in Sarasota, also responded to the call, the report noted.
A Sarasota News Leader review of weather conditions between 4 and 5 p.m. on Jan. 31 found that the temperature was 54, with a 22.6 mph wind out of the northwest, as reported by World Weather.