Two Paddle Boarders Rescued at S. Oregon Coast's Secret Beach

Published 04/21/25 at 8:01 p.m.
By Oregon Coast Beach Connection Staff

(Brookings, Oregon) – Over the weekend, rescuers on the south Oregon coast had a precarious task after a 911 call came in reporting two paddle boarders that were stranded and injured just offshore of Secret Beach near Brookings. (Photos courtesy Curry County Sheriff John Ward)

Curry County Sheriff John Ward said the call came in Friday, April 18 about 1:25 p.m., with Brookings Dispatch telling the sheriff's office there were two people involved, stuck in the waters at this beach that is 13 miles north of town.

Ward called for the local search and rescue (SAR) team along with Brookings Fire Department and the U.S. Coast Guard. Also responding was Cal Ore Life Flight and an Oregon State Trooper.

“At about 1:40pm, I arrived and hiked the Secret Beach trail down to the beach and met with other first responders,” Ward said. “We determined that the two that were stuck on a rock were a couple hundred yards offshore and the best way to get to them would either be by Coast Guard boat or helicopter.”

As rescuers were strategizing, SAR members Happ Flynn and Joe Kulp headed out in a kayak to reach the pair. One was injured after falling from a rock he had tried to climb during their ordeal. Kulp and Flynn discovered the man had a broken arm along with several lacerations and hypothermia.

“SAR members stabilized the man’s arm and then was able to float the injured male out to the Coast Guard boat that was waiting about thirty yards from the rock,” Ward said. “The Coast Guard then transported the injured man to Brookings Harbor where Cal Ore transported him to Sutter Coast Hospital.”

Sutter Coast Hospital is in Crescent City, California.

Kulp and Flynn transported the female back to shore along with the pair's kayak.

Ward said the two were from Duluth, Minnesota.

Secret Beach, although a popular one on the south Oregon coast, has its inherent dangers. In 2023, an adult male and three children wandered off the regular pathways just above the beach, following a false trail, and all four fell off a cliff. Two kids were able to hold to the clifface, but one child and the adult fell some two hundred feet.

The fall killed the adult and the child had somewhat serious injuries. He was transported to a hospital in Gold Beach.

The incident created an outcry by locals to mark the false trails and cordon them off.

One Deceased in Harrowing Fall, Rescue on S. Oregon Coast - Near Brookings Family members fell some 200 feet

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Andre' GW Hagestedt is editor, owner and primary photographer / videographer of Oregon Coast Beach Connection, an online publication that sees over 1 million pageviews per month. He is also author of several books about the coast.

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