Moonlight Canoe Ride Ends in Capsizing

Three men on a moonlight cruise around Newport Harbor swamped their 10-foot canoe about 1:30 a.m. Sunday and two had to be rescued by Orange County sheriff’s deputies.

One man was able to swim to shore and alert authorities while the other two made their way to boat moorings and hung on in the chill night air until they were rescued about 30 minutes later, police said.

Apparently attracted by the calm seas and the near-full moon, the three Newport men were making their way across the harbor when one of them stood, capsizing the small, green canoe, said Sheriff’s Deputy Diane Honicker, who came to their rescue.

Alex Wise, 21, swam about 150 yards to shore and called police, while Grant Proctor, 26, and Don Brown, 24, swam through the 60-degree water and clung to the moorings.

When deputies responded shortly after 2 a.m., Honicker said, they heard Proctor and Brown yelling for help.

“It was pitch black; we couldn’t see them,” Honicker said. “Luckily, we heard them call out and cut the engines.”

Honicker and Deputy Jerry McGraw pulled the men from water.

Proctor appeared dangerously close to suffering from hypothermia, Honicker said, so deputies immediately began first-aid to slowly warm him. He was taken by paramedics to Hoag Memorial Hospital Presbyterian, where he was treated and released.

The other two were treated by deputies and paramedics and taken to the Newport residence where the three were staying.

Honicker, a harbor rescue veteran, said hypothermia is one of the biggest dangers to swimmers and boaters who find themselves in distress, and receiving proper first-aid is critical.

“A lot of people will jump into a hot shower or Jacuzzi, warming the body too quickly,” Honicker said. “The important thing is to get their clothes off and start a slow warming process. Most people have no idea that hypothermia can kill you.”

The men did not tell deputies why they had decided to go canoeing in the middle of the night.

“It was a calm, clear night, and there was a full moon,” Honicker said, adding, “we always have a curve ball thrown at us one or another.”