Search ended after kite surfer calls in

The Coast Guard called off a search Friday morning for a missing kite surfer in the Great Peconic Bay after a man phoned the Long Island Sound unit to say he was safe after abandoning his gear, a spokeswoman for the maritime service said.

Searchers from the Coast Guard and Suffolk County police were dispatched to the bay Thursday after a Good Samaritan had reported a kite board and rigging floating in the water.

Lt. Bobbie-Jean Felix of the Coast Guard's Long Island Sound unit in Shinnecock said a person saw a television news report about the search and told his friend, the kite surfer who abandoned his rigging after falling into the water on Thursday.

The search was suspended at 6:40 a.m., Felix said. The kite surfer identified his gear from photographs taken by the Coast Guard, Felix said.

The Coast Guard did not identify the surfer.