Man dies in 2 a.m. canoe outing

A late-night canoeing expedition turned deadly last weekend when the craft, carrying four young men on Spring Valley Lake near Victorville, capsized shortly after 2 a.m. and one of the men disappeared into the chilly water, authorities said.

San Bernardino County sheriff’s officials said residents who live along the man-made lake began calling 911 around 2:20 a.m. Saturday to report calls of distress coming from the water.

Three of the men in the canoe managed to hang on to it and paddle to shore. After a 10-hour search by sheriff’s divers, the body of Michael Newman, 19, of Victorville was recovered, sheriff’s officials said.

Sheriff’s spokeswoman Cindy Beavers said the other men in the canoe, whose names were not released, helped divers pinpoint the spot where the canoe overturned in the 42-degree water. None of the group wore a life vest.

The shallow, nearly 200-acre lake, created in 1969, is at the center of a community of about 4,200 homes and is next to the Spring Valley Lake Country Club. Though the lake is private, the community is not gated, and the streets -- many of which have access to the water -- are public. The lake closes at 11 p.m.

Gordon Ryan, general manager of the Spring Valley Lake Assn., said only one of the young men was a resident of the community. The others were from other high-desert cities.

Security officers from the development generally patrol the lake in boats between Memorial Day and Labor Day, when boating activity increases, Ryan said.

Ryan said his security officers first heard about the men shortly after midnight when a resident reported that a group of five had shown up uninvited to a house party. They were gone when security personnel arrived, and the next calls about them came from residents who reported a possible drowning, Ryan said.

He said security personnel immediately contacted sheriff’s officials. They then ran to the marina, which took about four minutes, launched their patrol boat and took about six minutes to arrive at the point on the lake where the canoe had capsized -- putting them on the scene within 10 or 11 minutes after the calls, Ryan said.

“We responded as quickly as we possibly could,” Ryan said. The canoeists “went out on the water after hours, without any life-saving equipment.... This is the first dramatic incident of someone going on the lake after hours and getting in trouble.”

Coroner’s officials are waiting for results of toxicology tests, and sheriff’s officials are investigating the circumstances surrounding the incident.

maeve.reston@latimes.com