Warrior Adventure Race competitors were lost in kayaks on the coast
By LINDA ANN McDONALD
Correspondent
Warrior Adventure Racing hosted a sold-out Sea-to-Sea Florida race which started on Thursday, Feb. 22 in St. Marks.
The day’s race was on foot down the rail trail and an endurance race from the boat ramp at Fort San Marcos and ending at the Aucilla boat ramp at Mandalay.
After three race contestants were identified as not on course and with cold weather conditions worsening, there was no time to waste.
By use of their professional boating expertise and extreme knowledge of the local water, Charter Captains Leif Lundquist of Viking Coastal Charters out of St. Marks and Aucilla Outlaw Charters Captain Joel Baldree turned into instant heroes when they located and brought back to safety the three lost race contestants. One man in kayak solo and a mother/daughter team together in a canoe were the vessels lost.
“The guy in the kayak was probably on the verge of death,” said Capt. Lundquist. “He didn’t know who he was, he was lethargic, he tried to stand up and he would fall down, he must have fallen at least three or four times. His face was white, and his throat was black and gray. We put him in the airboat and strapped his kayak to the airboat.
“The kayaker had no expressions when he was saved, he just kept saying “thank you, thank you.’ Then he would say, ‘Who are you? Who are you? Are you from the race?’” Lundquist replied: “No, sir, we are the redneck 911 here to get you out of here.”
Lundquist was operating a safety boat to make sure the contestants make it around the lighthouse.
“I was supposed to have the day off, the race people went to Shields Marina to rent a boat, by the race’s insurance standards they must have a safety boat, but no one had the qualifications to rent a boat so they called me.”
Lunquist was talking to his airboat buddy from JR’s Aucilla River Store and Aucilla Outlaw Charters Capt. Joel Baldree, and got a call from the race outfitters that it was 20 minutes from being dark, and the couldn’t see some of the folks on the GPS.
“I told them I am over an hour away now; the tide is going low and still dropping, the wind is blowing 25 mph and it’s cold.”
Using his familiarity of the area, Lundquist was able to spring into action and get the proper boat and equipment. “Because the tide was so low, I knew I had to put together a different rig, I couldn’t use my boat, I called Joel about using his airboat. I got to Joel, got his airboat and I got to JR’s in Aucilla in 30 minutes.”
It’s close to 25 miles from the boat ramp at the fort to the Mandalay Boat ramp in Aucilla.
Capt. Joel Baldree came prepared for the weather by wearing three layers of clothes for warmth, he ended up shedding his outermost layers for the two women he rescued.
Lundquist said, “When we got to the boat ramp one of the guys from the race had an app that tracked all the contestants and as soon as we got the coordinates, we were able to locate the missing boaters. We then went to locate the girls, once we looked at the area, we were able to go straight to them. We were advising the girls to push towards the shore so we can get in the shallow water to get in the marsh and towards the land and we can find them.
“The women were happy, they were thanking us, they were a mother and daughter team,” Lundquist said. “The daughter mentioned she was always worried when her mother went out on races that something would happen, so for this race, the daughter decided to join her mother in the canoe and this is what happened.”
The entire rescue mission took about an hour once the captains got the boat on plane. “We got to the boat ramp at 7:30 and back at JR’s at 10 p.m.,” Lundquist said. “We were on the water about an hour and a half total rescue time.”
Lundquist is a member of the Boater Safety Council and is certified by the National Safe Boater Council and teaches people how to drive boats properly and safely.
“Kayaks and canoes do not do well in the big water, they are not made for it,” he said. “It was a very risky thing to do.”
“There were three people out there making the wrong turns in direction, we found them, they were only lost – they did not want our help in order to keep going and stay in the race; they continued on with the race.”
When asked how it feels to be a hero and rescue people, Leif said “I don’t feel different, when someone is in danger, it is nothing out of the ordinary for me to help someone.”
Warrior Adventure Racing can be viewed from a philosophical or life perspective as a form of personal challenge and self-discovery. It often involves physically and mentally demanding activities, such as endurance sports, navigation, and problem solving, that push participants to their limits and require teamwork.
