PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. – A paddleboarder who drifted nearly 2 miles away from shore in Ponte Vedra Beach on Wednesday afternoon was safely rescued after a brief search.
St. Johns Fire Rescue said in a Facebook post the paddleboarder started drifting further away from the shore around 4:30 p.m. and couldn’t find their way back because of weather conditions.
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The St. Johns County Marine Rescue unit immediately began searching for the distressed paddleboarder from a rescue board from the beach.
Multiple responding units including the St. Johns County Sheriff’s Office and U.S Coast Guard Station Mayport were called to assist in the search.
A marine rescue jet ski was also called to look for the paddleboarder. A helicopter spotted the paddleboard about 1.5 miles away from shore around 5:15 p.m.
The helicopter crew was able to direct the marine unit to the paddleboarder’s location.
The paddleboarder was safely taken back to shore and evaluated by medical officials.
There were no injuries reported.