{"id":663498,"date":"2026-03-18T03:23:26","date_gmt":"2026-03-18T03:23:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/663498\/"},"modified":"2026-03-18T03:23:26","modified_gmt":"2026-03-18T03:23:26","slug":"missing-kayaker-tried-to-paddle-to-safety-during-overnight-ordeal-at-middle-beach","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/663498\/","title":{"rendered":"Missing kayaker tried to paddle to safety during overnight ordeal at Middle Beach"},"content":{"rendered":"

A lost kayaker who spent the night on a sandbank in waters north of Adelaide says he is “happy to be alive and well” after being rescued on Wednesday.<\/p>\n

Goran Radic was found near Middle Beach during an extensive water and aerial search overnight and again this morning after relatives raised the alarm just before 11pm on Tuesday<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The 73-year-old said he had been paddling his one-person kayak in waters 40 kilometres north of Adelaide, a trip he has made “about a thousand times” before, when he got disoriented on Tuesday.<\/p>\n

\"Missing<\/p>\n

Goran Radic says he “didn’t panic” while he was missing in waters off Adelaide overnight. (ABC News)<\/p>\n

“The moment I didn’t see entrance into the channels so I knew something is [sic] different,” he said.<\/p>\n

He said he was wearing his life jacket but had left his phone in his car.<\/p>\n

“I didn’t panic, I was alright,” he said.<\/p>\n

“I’ve seen rescue helicopter sometime in the night and they missed me.”<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

A rescue helicopter brought Goran Radic back to shore. (ABC News)<\/p>\n

He said he tried to paddle to St Kilda, about 20 km south of Middle Beach.<\/p>\n

“I thought lights going to guide me to St Kilda but didn’t find it so I kayaked back, they found me this morning,” the Aldinga Beach resident said.<\/p>\n

SA Ambulance Service Special Operations’s Clinton Daniels said they rescued the man by landing a helicopter on a sandbank.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Clinton Daniels was one of the rescuers. (ABC News)<\/p>\n

“We were able to land on a bank and actually get him to walk across to the aircraft and [he] climbed in,” Mr Daniels said.<\/p>\n

“He had appropriate clothing and stayed up all night waiting for daylight and possibly help.<\/p>\n

“He’s had a fairly decent ordeal but he’s doing quite well.”<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

A grateful Goran Radic waves goodbye to his rescuers before driving home. (ABC News)<\/p>\n

Once Mr Radic got to safety, he rang his wife before driving home.<\/p>\n

“She’s happy I’m alive, alright and [asked me] what happened,”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

he said.<\/p>\n

SA Police’s Water Operations Unit, Polair with infrared camera capabilities and Volunteer Marine Rescue were part of the overnight search.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"two<\/p>\n

The SA Sea Rescue Squadron hovercraft helped in the search. (ABC News: Briana Fiore)<\/p>\n

Paramedics assessed the kayaker when he landed and deemed him to be in good health.<\/p>\n

The kayaker said he was grateful for his rescuers.<\/p>\n

“Thank you so much, they’re professionals,” he said.<\/p>\n

Mr Radic says he plans to head out on his kayak again but will “be more careful”.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A lost kayaker who spent the night on a sandbank in waters north of Adelaide says he is…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":663499,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[2],"tags":[4740,280714,280713,131351,50,89407,4747,278857],"class_list":["post-663498","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-news","tag-australia","tag-goran-radic","tag-helictoper","tag-kayak","tag-news","tag-paramedics","tag-rescue","tag-water-operations"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/116248040634117627","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/663498","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=663498"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/663498\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/663499"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=663498"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=663498"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=663498"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}