Rain could hamper the search on Saturday for a missing kite surfer in Sandy Hook Bay, the third time this week the Coast Guard has searched the water off New Jersey.

The search got underway around 5:30 p.m. on Friday after a boater reported he tried to help an unconscious male wearing a harness attached to a kite in Horseshoe Cove in the Gateway National Recreational Area, according to the Coast Guard.

As the boater tried to pull him from the water, a gust of wind pulled the kite line out of his hands and he lost sight of the surfer.

The Coast Guard said the kite strings had gotten entangled with a motorboat and the surfer went under water.

The kite surfer was described as a white male with dark hair and black shorts.

Four other people have drowned off the Jersey Shore this week

  • Thursday: The body of 31-year-old Jeffrey Wilkens of Illinois washed up on the beach near the former Revel casino in Atlantic City after he went for a swim in the ocean near the Steel Pier
  • Wednesday: A 74-year-old man, whose identity has not yet been disclosed, was knocked over by a wave near the 59th Street  beach in Sea Isle City.
  • Monday: Brian Zwaan, 58, of Berwyn, Pennsylvania, had a medical emergency in the ocean off the 86th Street beach in Sea Isle City.
  • Sunday:  Zuzana Oravcová,24-year-old Slovakian woman, drowned after taking a late night swim Sunday in the Atlantic Ocean off Point Pleasant Beach.

ABC 7 Eyewitness News reported that Sandy Hook is a popular area for kiteboarding and over a dozen were seen on Friday over the bay.

Coast Coast Guard Sandy Hook and Atlantic City as well as the NYPD Aviation and Marine Unit, NYFD Marine Unit, New Jersey State Police Marine Unit, U.S. Park Police, the Atlantic Highlands Fire Department and the Monmouth County Sheriff's Department were all involved in the search.

Contact reporter Dan Alexander at Dan.Alexander@townsquaremedia.com.

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