Posted on: Monday, September 2, 2002

Paddler breaks from race to rescue diver

By Karen Blakeman
Advertiser Staff Writer

A diver was rescued yesterday off the North Shore by a paddler who sacrificed his position in the Hale'iwa Joe's Paddle Race to keep her afloat.

Lifeguard Capt. Bodo Van Der Leeden said George Ramos Jr., a well-known surfer and top North Shore paddler, was among the lead competitors in the Hale'iwa Joe's competition until he spotted exhausted Nanna Bradford, struggling to stay afloat.

Bradford was alone in the blue waters half a mile offshore and a mile west of Waimea Bay. Ramos was the only person near her. He did what he had to do.

Ramos held Bradford afloat until help arrived.

Bradford is an experienced diver who had recently moved from California to Black Point.

With more than 9,000 dives under her belt, including dives with Jacques Cousteau, Bradford was qualified to go out.

But she had also been nursing a longtime neck injury that needed another surgery, she said. The pain returned while she was surfacing.

She said she tried to signal the boat accompanying her, but the current had carried her out to sea. Bradford drifted.

Van Der Leeden said a 911 call came in from her friends' boat about 11 a.m., and lifeguards and firefighters took to the sea.

All they found, he said, was her gear. Bradford said she'd ditched it after about an hour in the water. She was tired. And she was hurting. The shore looked very far away. She was losing hope, until she saw Ramos.

"Please," she said, reaching for him.

"Hop on," Ramos said.

Bradford said she thought the paddler looked a little sad, but he said nothing about a race. He just held on to her until lifeguards arrived.

"Oh, what a gentleman," Bradford said of Ramos. "He saved my life."

Van Der Leeden said Ramos went on to finish the 5-mile race in the middle of the pack, but the crowd at Ali'i Beach in Hale'iwa recognized a winner when they saw one.

"He was roundly applauded," Van Der Leeden said.