By Joshua Melvin and Mark Gomez
Contra Costa Times
SAN FRANCISCO, Calif. — A Los Altos woman who went missing while windsurfing in the bay near Foster City spent the night clinging to her board, catching occasional glimpses of the rescuers who were hunting for her, the woman’s husband said Tuesday morning after her rescue.
But the choppy water hid Cathy Caton, 62, from the view of searchers who were canvassing the area, said Steven Hamman, 63. Had her safety equipment — a radio and strobe light — been fully charged, she would likely have been found much sooner, he said. But the radio died after she made one call to Hamman, who didn’t have his radio turned on, and the strobe wasn’t working at all.
Around 6 a.m. a Coast Guard helicopter spotted her about 100 yards north of the center span of the San Mateo Bridge. Caton, who got stuck in the water after the sail broke off her board, had let the tide take her south of the bridge Monday night and then bring her back up to the spot where she was rescued Tuesday morning.
“She didn’t fight it,” Hamman said, when reached by telephone Tuesday morning. “That’s not going to do anything.”
Although her safety equipment wasn’t working, she was dressed in a wet suit that had an extra liner for warmth. She also wore heavy gloves and boots. Caton has been windsurfing for more than 20 years and knows the dangers of the sport.
“You dress for the problems,” Hamman said, adding that his wife took a hot shower, ate breakfast and planned to go to sleep after getting home Tuesday morning.
While being tossed by the waves and pulled by the current, Caton had tried to yell to the rescuers looking for her and signal them with her board. Her voice was drowned out by the noise of wind and the engines of search vehicles. The emergency whistle she carried could have alerted searchers to her location. But in the chaos of the situation she forgot she was carrying it, Hamman said.
Caton had surfed out into the water off the Foster City coast around 5 p.m. Monday and was supposed to be gone for only 30 minutes. When she had not returned by nearly 7 p.m., Hamman called for help.
Redwood City, Foster City, San Francisco and Alameda County emergency personnel began scouring the area by boat and helicopter late into the night. The Burlingame and Los Altos police departments also assisted in the search, according to Petty Officer Jared Buchmiller of the Coast Guard.
After a rescuer in a Coast Guard helicopter spotted her Tuesday morning, she was plucked from the water and taken to a Coast Guard station in San Francisco, Buchmiller said. She was treated there, evaluated by emergency medical personnel and released.
Hamman said his wife was tired and dehydrated after the ordeal, but otherwise OK. She has recently been undergoing chemotherapy treatment.
“I was nervous,” he said. “But I knew we were looking in the right place.”
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