{"id":547791,"date":"2026-03-18T06:13:18","date_gmt":"2026-03-18T06:13:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/547791\/"},"modified":"2026-03-18T06:13:18","modified_gmt":"2026-03-18T06:13:18","slug":"missing-kayaker-tried-to-paddle-to-safety-during-overnight-ordeal-at-middle-beach","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/547791\/","title":{"rendered":"Missing kayaker tried to paddle to safety during overnight ordeal at Middle Beach"},"content":{"rendered":"

A lost kayaker who spent the night on a sandbank in waters north of Adelaide says he is “happy to be alive and well” after being rescued on Wednesday.<\/p>\n

Goran Radic was found near Middle Beach during an extensive water and aerial search overnight and again this morning after relatives raised the alarm just before 11pm on Tuesday<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The 73-year-old said he had been paddling his one-person kayak in waters 40 kilometres north of Adelaide, a trip he has made “about a thousand times”, when he became disoriented on Tuesday.<\/p>\n

\"Missing<\/p>\n

Goran Radic says he “didn’t panic” while he was missing in waters off Adelaide overnight. (ABC News)<\/p>\n

“The moment I didn’t see entrance into the channels I knew something is [sic] different,” he said.<\/p>\n

He said he was wearing a life jacket but left his phone in his car.<\/p>\n

“I didn’t panic. I was alright,” he said.<\/p>\n

“I’ve seen rescue helicopter sometime in the night and they missed me.”<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

A rescue helicopter brought Goran Radic back to shore. (ABC News)<\/p>\n

He said he tried to paddle to St Kilda, about 20 km south of Middle Beach.<\/p>\n

“I thought lights going to guide me to St Kilda but didn’t find it so I kayaked back. They found me this morning,” the Aldinga Beach resident said.<\/p>\n

SA Ambulance Service Special Operations’s Clinton Daniels said they rescued the man by landing a helicopter on a sandbank.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Clinton Daniels was one of the rescuers. (ABC News)<\/p>\n

“We were able to land on a bank and actually get him to walk across to the aircraft and [he] climbed in,” Mr Daniels said.<\/p>\n

“He had appropriate clothing and stayed up all night waiting for daylight and possibly help.<\/p>\n

“He’s had a fairly decent ordeal, but he’s doing quite well.”<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

A grateful Goran Radic waves goodbye to his rescuers before driving home. (ABC News)<\/p>\n

Once Mr Radic got to safety, he rang his wife before driving home.<\/p>\n

“She’s happy I’m alive, alright, and [asked me] what happened,” he said.Extensive search efforts<\/p>\n

SA Police’s Water Operations Unit, Polair with infrared camera capabilities and Volunteer Marine Rescue were part of the overnight search.<\/p>\n

\"two<\/p>\n

The SA Sea Rescue Squadron hovercraft helped in the search. (ABC News: Briana Fiore)<\/p>\n

Paramedics assessed the kayaker when he landed and deemed him to be in good health.<\/p>\n

Kevin Dixon, a volunteer rescuer who took part in the search from 1am, said the man was “very lucky” to be alive.<\/p>\n

Mr Dixon said the mangroves were full of mosquitoes and sea life but that conditions early today were flat and calm.<\/p>\n

He said it was not a cold night, which was in favour of the kayaker.<\/p>\n

Mr Dixon said the search was stopped at 3:30am and resumed at first light.<\/p>\n

\"Two<\/p>\n

Kevin Dixon and Steve Everett\u00a0retrieved the man’s kayak. (ABC News: Briana Fiore)<\/p>\n

He said he initially feared the search would be a recovery effort but was happy with the good news.<\/p>\n

“Watch the weather and always wear life jackets, doesn’t matter what the day is,” Mr Dixon said.<\/p>\n

“Tell everybody where you’re going and keep your radio handy.”<\/p>\n

Mr Dixon and another rescuer, Steve Everett, found Mr Radic’s kayak just after midday and pulled it to shore with the guidance of police in the air.<\/p>\n

The kayaker said he was grateful for his rescuers.<\/p>\n

“Thank you so much. They’re professionals,” he said.<\/p>\n

Mr Radic says he plans to head out on his kayak again but will “be more careful”.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A lost kayaker who spent the night on a sandbank in waters north of Adelaide says he is…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":547792,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[64,63,271076,271075,42273,44,9497,1157,268938],"class_list":["post-547791","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-australia","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-goran-radic","tag-helictoper","tag-kayak","tag-news","tag-paramedics","tag-rescue","tag-water-operations"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/547791","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=547791"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/547791\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/547792"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=547791"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=547791"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=547791"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}