Man Stranded 5 Days on Island During Rubber Raft Voyage Still Wants To Reach San Francisco

Soon to be in San Francisco

​A man attempting to paddle a rubber raft from Sacramento to San Francisco was stranded for five days on a small island in the Delta. Notwithstanding, the 54-year-old Northridge resident plans on continuing his voyage to San Francisco, said Levi Read, a spokesman for the U.S. Coast Guard, which rescued the man Monday morning. The man set off for San Francisco via a rubber raft bobbing down the Sacramento River. But his vessel sprung a leak and began sinking five days ago. He made it to Roe Island, one of the small, windy outcroppings that dot the Sacramento River Delta.

 He reached his family by cell phone this morning, but he couldn't tell them which island he was on. A family member contacted the Coast Guard, and relayed that the stranded man could hear the bugle call reveille every morning from the island. That led Coast Guard officials to believe the man was near Concord Naval Weapons Station, at the mouth of the Delta and not far from Suisun. The Coast Guard obtained GPS information from the man's cell phone provider, and concluded he was on Roe Island, which looks like this:

Here Stood Rubber Raft Crusoe

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The Coast Guard launched a 25-foot response boat from Station Vallejo to respond. Once on scene, the rescue crew was able to locate the man who was waving a red flag. The Coast Guard crew transferred the man to a pier in Martinez Marina where emergency medical technicians were waiting. The man was determined to be in stable condition.