LAKEPORT, Calif. – An elderly Lakeport man had to be flown to a regional trauma center for treatment Tuesday night after falling from his sailboat and spending several hours in Clear Lake.

The 77-year-old man, whose name was not released, was found by paramedics in tules near Konocti Vista Casino’s marina at around 9:30 p.m. Tuesday, according to Dan Copas, a firefighter/paramedic with Lakeport Fire Protection District.

About an hour before the man was located firefighters and sheriff’s deputies were dispatched to the casino on the report of a subject in the water near the marina.

Copas said nine Lakeport Fire personnel, along with an engine and two medic units, responded to the scene to look for the man.

Copas said the man had launched his sailboat between 4 p.m. and 4:30 p.m. with his daughter’s help, then went sailing by himself.

The circumstances that led to the man falling into the water aren’t entirely clear, but Copas said the information emergency personnel received indicated that a rope on one of the boat’s sails broke and the man went to fix it.

From there, they aren’t sure if he was knocked into the water or lost his balance and fell, Copas said.

“He was out there for an extended period of time,” said Copas.

Just how long he was in the water wasn’t certain, but Copas estimated four to five hours.

The man’s daughter went looking for him, found him and tried unsuccessfully to get him into her boat, Copas said.

She then tried to drag her father’s sailboat to shore, which Copas said also didn’t work.

Next, the woman gave her father a rope and towed him to shore. Copas said she somehow managed to get 150 feet into the tules, near a tree. She tied a life vest in the area as a marker.

“So we ended up finding him in the tules in about a foot of water, lying down,” said Copas.

Copas and two others got out of the sheriff’s boat being used in the search and swam through the water and tules to reach the man.

It took them quite a while to locate the man, Copas said.

“We had to find our way to him because he was not visible from the water at all,” Copas said.

When they did find him he was hypothermic, Copas said.

Paramedics got the man to shore at Konocti Vista, and Copas said the man was flown by REACH air ambulance to Santa Rosa Memorial Hospital.

There was no word on his condition Wednesday.

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