Kayaker 'clinging to life' rescued from Long Island Sound, Nassau police say

Nassau County Police Marine Bureau officers, responding to a 911 call reporting an overdue fisherman, saved an exhausted man clinging to his overturned kayak from the waters of the Long Island Sound off Centre Island early Thursday, police said. 

Police said the kayaker, identified only as a 27-year-old man, was not wearing a life vest when rescued and had been in the water at least 4½ hours. Marine patrol officers said the man was "clinging to life," police said.

According to police, the man was out fishing, having launched his kayak from a marina in Oyster Bay around 9 p.m. Wednesday. Police said he had called his brother, who was to meet him back at the marina, around 11 p.m. and said he was near the Bayville Bridge.

But when the kayaker failed to arrive back at the marina, located southeast of the bridge and south of Centre Island, the brother called 911. That was at about 11:30 p.m., police said.

The crew of Marine Bureau 6, as well as a police helicopter, began an immediate search of the area.

The exact location where the kayak overturned and the man went into the water was not clear. It is believed the man and his kayak were pulled by the current around Centre Island and swept into the Sound. Police said the man told them that after falling into the water he took off his life vest so he could swim to the kayak, but said that after reaching it he couldn't get the vest back on.

He was eventually rescued in the Sound about a half-mile off Centre Island Beach, police said.

Records show the water temperature in the Sound was about 71 degrees at the time. According to survival guides on the U.S. Search and Rescue Task Force website, someone immersed in water between 70 and 80 degrees can be threatened by exhaustion or even unconsciousness in as little as three hours.

Police said the kayaker was located and rescued at about 3:30 a.m. Police said he was treated by Nassau County medical personnel and was in stable condition after the rescue.

By John Valenti

john.valenti@newsday.com

John Valenti, a reporter at Newsday since 1981, has been honored nationally by the Associated Press and Society of the Silurians for investigative, enterprise and breaking news reporting, as well as column writing, and is the author of “Swee'pea,” a book about former New York playground basketball star Lloyd Daniels. Valenti is featured in the Emmy Award-winning ESPN 30-for-30 film “Big Shot.”