This story has been updated.
Brutal winds on the Columbia River took down a stand-up paddle boarder Friday afternoon, prompting an intensive search by law enforcement and volunteers.
The paddler, Andres Pombo, 29, of Miami, disappeared Friday afternoon in the mid-channel of the Columbia near Swell City, a popular water sport site on the Washington shore, just west of Spring Creek Fish Hatchery, west across the river from Hood River.
Hood River County Sheriff’s Office said Monday the search is now a “recovery.” Witness reports and video evidence from a GoPro camera clipped to Pombo’s board prompted officials on Saturday night to declare it “highly unlikely that he survived.”
“There’s no way he could have survived. We would have found him by now,” said Sgt. Pete Hughes of the sheriff’s office Monday.
Pombo, who is originally from Uruguay, and lived in Miami, was visiting Hood River for the Columbia Gorge Paddle Challenge over the weekend. Pombo wrote Thursday morning on his Facebook page, which is set as public, “First morning in this amazing place. Looking forward for a great windy weekend!”
He visited Gorge Surf Shop on Oak Street with friends that same morning, according to his Facebook page.
Pombo paddled out with friends on the Columbia River from Viento State Park at about 1:45 p.m. Friday, and headed east toward Hood River to practice for the weekend downwind race. According to witness statements, Pombo paddled toward the Washington shore, splitting from his group.
Winds on the Columbia were strong that afternoon — blowing east 20 to 30 mph — Pombo was not wearing a life vest, nor a lanyard while he was out on the water.
Pombo was last seen wearing a gray shirt, black shorts and a gray hat. His board was colored deep red.
Video evidence from the camera on Pombo’s board showed him falling into the mid-channel of the river near Swell City with no personal flotation device, and disappearing from view after swimming one minute and two seconds in the Columbia, Hughes said.
Even more vivid than the video were witness accounts. A local kiteboarder, whose name was not released by police, saw Pombo fall into the water after a “big gust of wind” hit him, which “facilitated him going into the water,” said Hughes.
The kiteboarder paddled out to where she saw Pombo fall in within two minutes, but he had already vanished. Four more paddle boarders converged on the spot within minutes and were unable to find him, Hughes said, even when they searched “from shore to shore.”
Pombo’s paddle board and gear were found floating in the river.
Multiple agencies, volunteers and friends of Pombo teamed up to investigate the Florida man’s disappearance.
Searchers began at first light on Saturday morning from the water and the sky. Watercraft and aircraft from Multnomah, Wasco, Skamania and Klickitat County sheriff’s offices assisted Hood River County deputies with the endeavor. Crews from Columbia River Intertribal Fisheries Enforcement focused on the shoreline along state highways, while Hood River Police covered ground patrol.
More than a dozen paddlers looking for Pombo — some of whom are fellow racers — have swept up and down the river from the Bridge of the Gods to Swell City since Saturday.
“Altogether, by an extremely rough calculation, we searched more than 30 miles of river,” wrote Brett Downen, coordinator for SUP PDX, a Portland paddle boarders’ group, on Facebook Monday morning. “I’m proud of the efforts of this team of mostly strangers who all joined together for one common goal, and who gave up their time, their entry fees, their travel expenses, to help in a greater effort of finding our lost brother.”
Search efforts, which HRCSO have now classified as a body search and recovery, will press on.
Hughes said numerous factors (including temperature, winds, current and geography) could influence the timeline for finding a body in the Columbia, but “we could be looking at two weeks if it’s not physically stuck.”
“We’ll keep searching until he surfaces,” said Hughes.
Multnomah County Sheriff’s Office offered sonar equipment for an underwater search, but as of Monday night, it has yielded no results.
Members of Pombo’s family arrived from Florida on Tuesday evening, a friend of Pombo's said. Pombo’s relatives intend to help with the search.
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