Lost Stone Harbor Paddleboarder Was Rescued by Neighbors

STONE HARBOR – A 25-year-old Stone Harbor man was rescued Sept. 3, after spending five hours on his paddle board, becoming disoriented and dehydrated, and suffering from hypothermia. While the U.S. Coast Guard Sector Delaware Bay, state and local police and fire departments searched the area, it was a neighbor who found the man in an area where no one else was looking.
The neighbor, Steve Harbaugh, of Stone Harbor, was following social media about the search. He saw the helicopters and then learned the search might be called off at 6:30 p.m. because of darkness. His son, daughter, nephew and brother-in-law joined him on his boat to search. He felt they were running out of time.
“I don’t want to bash any of the rescue efforts, but I think the authorities could have done things differently and perhaps found him sooner,” Harbaugh said. 
“I was getting all my information from social media, and there was a lot of misinformation,” he continued. “I think the authorities could have used the power of social media to do things differently. As someone who was out there, I was surprised at how the efforts were being done.
“We were under the gun because it was getting dark, but if we had done things differently, maybe we would have found the young man sooner,” he said.
The paddle boarder was reported missing by his father around 4:45 p.m., an hour overdue. Harbaugh was not sure where he started from, but he was found on his board coming out of the back basin area, “obviously distressed and disoriented.   
“We first went into the basin area where we thought he left from and searched a grid about an hour out from there,” Harbaugh noted. “We went under the Stone Harbor bridge, Townsend’s Inlet and back to the marshes where no one was searching. We take our kids there tubing and I know you can only see in so far. That’s where a drone or jet ski could have been helpful.
“It was baffling to me why no one was searching there,” he added.
As they were rescuing the man and bringing him on his boat, Harbaugh said another boat, not knowing what was going on, flew by. In addition, he said search and rescue helicopters flying overhead also did not apparently see the paddleboarder. 
He was wearing a yellow-green life vest and dark shorts when rescued.
After calling 911, Harbaugh brought the man to his dock where the emergency first responders strapped him to a chair to be carried up the ramp and be treated.
“My wife thinks I have a guardian angel,” he said. “Last year, a woman helped me avoid a potentially devasting accident. I am glad I was able to pay it back.”
Harbaugh is a local developer who established the Harbaugh House, a 501(c)(3) organization dedicated to collecting and distributing toys to children during the holidays and throughout the year. He also assists displaced families by providing transitional housing to help them get back on their feet.
Coast Guard Sector Delaware Bay Station could not be reached for comment.
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