Police and fire rescue launched five separate water rescues early Wednesday morning in Isla Vista, primarily around UC Santa Barbara’s Campus Point and off of Del Playa Drive.

Courtesy of SBC spokesperson Mike Eliason

The first report came in around 9:16 a.m., the second at 10:13 a.m., the third at 10:52 a.m., the fourth at 10:57 a.m. and the fifth around 11:30 a.m.

Four rescues were in response to surfers in distress, according to Santa Barbara County Fire Captain Dave Zamboni. All surfers were young adult males in their late teens.

The fifth rescue was for a 67-year-old man, who was not surfing. He was complaining of hypothermia and was refusing treatment as of 11:40 a.m.

The majority of the rescues were executed using jet skis. In one instance, a helicopter was launched from the Santa Ynez airport and rescued a victim who was “stranded up against the cliffs,” Zamboni said.

He said the surf is “extremely high” in SB county today, particularly in the I.V. area.

“We encourage and stress that inexperienced surfers should not be in the water today.”

A video of one of the rescues can be viewed here. Video courtesy of Riley Traut

Correction [1:08 p.m.]: The four males rescued are in their late teens, not early teens, as stated in a previous version of this article. 

Evelyn Spence is the county news editor at the Daily Nexus and can be reached at evelyn@dailynexus.com or news@dailynexus.com.

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Evelyn Spence
Evelyn Spence harbors a great love for em dashes and runs on nothing but iced coffee, Jolly Ranchers and breaking news. She serves as the managing editor and can be reached at evelyn@dailynexus.com, managing@dailynexus.com or at @evelynrosesc on Twitter.