Wave Claims, Surfers Rescue - Boating Accident

Surfers Save Fishermen After Boat Capsizes

3/28/25 – San Diego, CA

Fisherman Omar Jaber shook hands with the surfers who pulled him from the water

Two fishermen were rescued after the boat they were in capsized from a wave near Southern California’s Point Loma. 

Omar Jaber, a U.S. veteran, and his friend go out weekly to fish on a 22-foot motorboat. But on 28 March, their routine trip took a turn for the worse. The conditions, Jaber recalled, had been good, when out of nowhere a wave slammed into their boat. 

The impact sent Jaber flying into the water, with fishing line tangled around his feet and legs in a way that prevented him from swimming. “I have been in combat. I’ve seen a lot of situations and I think this was closest situation to death that I’ve had in my life,” said Jaber.  

About 600 feet away, three hydrofoil surfers with a personal watercraft saw the boat capsize and sprang into action. “I’m telling Randy, ‘Let’s go, let’s go! These guys need help!” said Dave Beal, one of the surfers who rescued Jaber and his friend. 

With Waves ‘It’s Hard to See People in the Water’: Surfer

“Randy swung the back of the jet ski around close enough for me to grab him and I grabbed him,” Beal added. The surfers pulled Jaber out first and took him to safety, before going back to get his friend. Both men escaped unscathed and called the surfers their heroes. 

“I’m sure at some point they’d be hypothermic and dead,” said Randy Leavitt, another surfer who helped with the rescue. “At sea, these things can happen fast. It’s hard to see people in the water when waves are happening.” 

There were life jackets on board, but Jaber admitted he wasn’t wearing one. Moving forward, he added, he will always wear a PFD.

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