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TRAGEDY IN OREGON



Top junior snowboarder ran over by dory boat while surfing; severing arm
14-year-old Cole Ortega, one of the top junior snowboarders in America, was enjoying a Fourth-of-July weekend trading waves with none other than Gerry Lopez at Cape Kiwanda Beach in Pacific City. All was going well and even though the Lopez family decided to leave early on Saturday morning, Ortega and his family hung out and caught a few of the mediocre waves. But during the deteriorating conditions on Sunday, a tragedy ensued.

Ortega, from Bend, Oregon, was sitting on his board waiting to catch a wave when a dory sped through the line-up at a faster speed than the breaking waves. The dory, manned by Darrell Martin, grazed one surfer before running Ortega over, cutting his arm completely off at the bicep as well as leaving him with a punctured lung and bruised ribs.

Fellow surfers helped Ortega and his severed arm to the beach, where his sister's boyfriend applied a tourniquet. He was immediately rushed to the hospital. Fortunately, doctors were able to reattach his limb but are closely monitoring the situation, in hopes of preventing infection.

Eyewitness, Paul Snodgrass told Portland's KATU News, "I saw the panic in the surfers and I reached for my phone because I knew as soon as it went over him that the boy was in trouble."

"That kid came up screaming," Snodgrass said. "And all I see is a poor kid who just had his life changed forever. It breaks my heart thinking of that poor kid and such a stupid accident that could have been so avoidable."

Dory boats have been launching out of this same stretch of beach for years. The way they return to the sand is to accelerate through the breaking waves and run aground on the shoreline. It is common practice for the dories to sound their horn upon approach but it was unclear if the boat that collided with Ortega did.

"Cole is a very dynamic human so it will be very interesting to see what he does with this experience," Ortega's cousin, Fletcher Burton told Surfline.

Ortega's surgeons say it may take months to know whether or not he'll regain use of his arm.

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koЯnut

I've been reading about this and hearing all the news reports since the 4th weekend.
Pretty sad.

For once up here it wasn't a rip tide or a shark that fucked a surfer up at the Oregon coast.

fmb

I hadn't heard of this until the thread. I hope the limb reattachment is successful and he regains complete use of his arm. I see where it is customary to beach a boat in this area; I hope the guy driving the boat did sound his horn as a warning of his approach.

joerockhead

I hope the kid gets use of his arm back.

And the report shows "Snowboard" twice. Is it printed wrong or was it copied wrong? Just curious.

And how come the Boat driver could not see these guys??

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