Long Night for a Bay Windsurfer

It would be easy to assume the worst if you’d heard a 62-year-old windsurfer had been missing on the Bay for more than 13 hours, but Cathy Caton’s rescue Tuesday morning after spending a very long night getting sucked in and out of South San Francisco Bay was a surprisingly happy ending to a potentially deadly story. Caton and her husband, Steve Hamman, 63, took off from the Foster City shoreline Monday afternoon around 5 p.m. for a quick half-hour ride. A broken mast left Caton disabled and adrift. It must have been terribly frustrating — and probably quite frightening — when her handheld VHF’s batteries died shortly thereafter, not to mention when she discovered her strobe light’s battery was dead. 

Just after dawn on Tuesday, a Coast Guard helo crew spotted Caton just north of the San Mateo Bridge. They dropped a rescue swimmer and hoisted Caton aboard. A very experienced windsurfer, Caton was wearing good protective gear — a wetsuit, hat, gloves, PFD — which the Coasties noted helped her survive the night. Another factor was that conditions were calm and relatively warm. The retired doctor later declined to be taken to the hospital, instead opting to head straight home — and no doubt to a very hot shower.