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UPDATE: Body of
missing kiteboarder found on Portsmouth Island
By IRENE
NOLAN
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The
body of a kiteboarder missing since Sunday evening was recovered
yesterday afternoon by Cape Lookout National Seashore staff members.
According
to David Carter, Hatteras Island district ranger for the Cape Hatteras
National Seashore, the body was recovered on Portsmouth Island, which
is south of Ocracoke.
It
was transported to Carteret General Hospital, where it was identified
as Charles Jackson, 44, of Rodanthe, who went missing while
kiteboarding off Cape Point on Sunday.
Jackson’s
kite and board were recovered, and he was last seen standing on a
shoal, yelling for help.
First
responders – including the National Park Service, Hatteras Island
Rescue Squad, and Dare County Sheriff’s Office – called in the U.S.
Coast Guard about a half hour after the call first came in to Dare
County 911.
The
Coast Guard searched with a motor lifeboat, a helicopter, and a C-130
aircraft, but did not locate Jackson. That search was called
off
Monday night.
Carter said
the body was discovered about 35 miles south of where Jackson was last
seen on the shoals off Cape Point.
Jackson was
an experienced kiteboarder who was the assistant manager of the Kitty
Hawk Kites store in Rodanthe.
September
19, 2011
Search
is on for kiteboarder missing off Cape Hatteras
By
IRENE NOLAN
The search
continues
today for a kiteboarder missing since Sunday evening off Cape Hatteras.
The kiteboarder was identified by Cape Hatteras National Seashore
district ranger David Carter as Charles Jackson, 44, of Rodanthe.
A call that the kiteboarder was in trouble came into Dare County
Communications shortly after 5:30 p.m. yesterday.
The National Park Service, Hatteras Island Rescue Squad, and Dare
County Sheriff’s Office responded.
According to details provided by Carter and by Bob Helle, assistant
chief and public information officer of the Hatteras Island Rescue
Squad, the kiteboarder went into the ocean just north of Cape Point.
Seas were rough yesterday in a persistent north/northeast
wind.
Helle estimates waves at 6 to 8 feet with an occasional 10-footer.
Shortly after Jackson entered the water, his kite was blown over and
hit the water. He was apparently unable to get it airborne
again
and released the harness that tethered him to the kite.
“The last time I saw him,” Helle said, “he was standing on the shoals,
actively yelling for help.”
About 6 p.m., first responders called for help from the U.S. Coast
Guard, which sent a 47-foot motor life boat from Station Hatteras Inlet
and an MH-60 Jayhawk helicopter and a C-130 Hercules aircraft from Air
Station Elizabeth City to aid the search.
The search went on until after dark and then was called off until
daybreak this morning.
Helle said the rescue squad had a truck on the beach all night,
searching from Cape Point to Ramp 55 near Hatteras Inlet.
The search area also includes Ocracoke, and park service rangers on
that island have been notified.
Carter said Jackson was considered to be an experienced kiteboarder.
Jackson had moved to Hatteras Island from the Houston, Texas,
area. He had been an assistant manager at the Kitty Hawk
Kites
store in Rodanthe for about a year.
His friends called him “A.J.” for “Action Jackson.”
“We’re hoping for a miracle around here,” co-worker Adam Super said
this morning.
Carter said that Jackson’s family in Texas had been notified and were
on their way to Hatteras today.
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