Surfer Freed From Trap--After 3 Hours
A surfer survived for three hours while tangled in a lobster trap buoy line Tuesday evening before managing to free himself and reach shore safely.
Don Vaughn, 32, was trapped about a mile off Point Loma’s Sunset Cliffs at 5 p.m. when his surfboard leash became wrapped around the buoy line, said Officer Allen Black of the Mission Bay Harbor Patrol.
While waves reaching eight feet swept over him, Vaughn worked for three hours before freeing his ankle from the leash and swimming to shore, Black said. The surfboard is still tangled with the buoy, he said.
Vaughn, who was wearing a wetsuit, was in “fine condition,” Black said.
After a call from Vaughn’s wife about 7:45 p.m., the Mission Bay Harbor Patrol had begun to search the beach while the San Diego County Sheriff’s Department’s helicopter searched the ocean off Sunset Cliffs.
Harbor Patrol officers found Vaughn unhurt on the beach about 8:50 p.m., Black said.
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