{"id":170629,"date":"2026-02-09T17:31:22","date_gmt":"2026-02-09T17:31:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/170629\/"},"modified":"2026-02-09T17:31:22","modified_gmt":"2026-02-09T17:31:22","slug":"california-surfer-found-clinging-to-lobster-trap-buoy-after-being-swept-away","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/170629\/","title":{"rendered":"California surfer found clinging to lobster trap buoy after being swept away"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">A 26-year-old surfer had to be rescued after getting swept out to sea off the coast of Santa Barbara County on Saturday.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">According to the county fire department, which released <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/SBCFireInfo\/status\/2020205687712936224?s=20\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:video of the rescue;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" class=\"link \">video of the rescue<\/a>, the man was surfing with a friend at Haskell\u2019s Beach in Goleta around 6:30 p.m. when he lost his board and was pulled into deeper waters by high surf.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">His friend reported him missing immediately, officials said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Rescue crews first found the man\u2019s board washed up on the beach. Then, they deployed aerial drones equipped with infrared cameras to scan the ocean. They found him about a quarter mile from the beach clinging to a lobster trap buoy.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">\u201cRescue swimmers swam out, made contact under real-time drone operator guidance, and safely escorted him back to shore,\u201d the department said.<\/p>\n<p><a data-ylk=\"ct:story;elm:img;itc:0;\" class=\"stretched-box\" href=\"https:\/\/ktla.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2026\/02\/rescue.png\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\" target=\"_blank\"><img alt=\"Surfer Rescue\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"960\" height=\"540\" decoding=\"async\" data-nimg=\"1\" class=\"rounded-lg\" style=\"color:transparent\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/6ea20ad166601eeca297fbc68aa60b56.jpeg\"\/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>The surfer was found around a quarter-mile offshore. Feb. 7, 2026. (Santa Barbara County Fire Department)<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">He was evaluated for injuries or other medical issues but was okay and released.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Officials hope the incident serves as a warning.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">\u201cNever go into the ocean alone, especially in rough conditions,\u201d the fire department said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Copyright 2026 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\"><a href=\"https:\/\/ktla.com\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to KTLA.;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" class=\"link \"> For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to KTLA. <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A 26-year-old surfer had to be rescued after getting swept out to sea off the coast of Santa&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":170630,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[7,9,8,11057,1800,18065],"class_list":["post-170629","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-california","tag-california","tag-california-headlines","tag-california-news","tag-fire-department","tag-santa-barbara-county","tag-surfer"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/170629","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=170629"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/170629\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/170630"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=170629"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=170629"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=170629"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}