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Surfer injured at Sombrio after wave slams log into leg
Times Colonist18 December 2025p. X5Roxanne Egan-Elliott, Times ColonistJDF SAR era
Roxanne Egan-Elliott, Times Colonist. “Surfer injured at Sombrio after wave slams log into leg”, Times Colonist, p. X5, 18 December 2025 ref-only
Summary
Surfer [Ethan] Baker was walking into the water at Sombrio Beach when a wave launched a log into his leg, breaking it. His friends moved him up the beach on a surfboard used as a makeshift stretcher. Baker was in excruciating pain while they moved him, but eventually his friends figured out how to hold his foot in a way that reduced the pain. Juan de Fuca Search and Rescue got the call, said co-ordinator Victoria Clarke: "It was severe enough that we wanted to ensure that he had quick access to medical attention." Cloud cover prevented a helicopter from reaching Baker on the beach, which is about 19 kilometres south of Port Renfrew, so crews hiked in a short distance from the parking lot. Crews assessed Baker, stabilised his injury and carried him on a stretcher to a waiting ambulance, said Clarke: "He was extremely brave and very stoic." Clarke praised the man's friends and others on the beach for keeping him warm for the roughly three hours it took for crews to arrive, because becoming cold and hypothermic is an added risk after an injury in cold, damp weather.
Details
| Headline | “Surfer injured at Sombrio after wave slams log into leg” |
|---|---|
| Publication | Times Colonist |
| Date | 18 December 2025 |
| Page | X5 |
| Section | Extra! |
| Byline | Roxanne Egan-Elliott, Times Colonist |
| Era | JDF SAR era |
| Document type | news report |
| Original article | ProQuest — the scanned page in the Times Colonist digital archive ↗ |
| Source | ProQuest Digital Times Colonist via GVPL (bulk export 2026-07-16) |
| Accessed | 2026-07-16 |
| Licensing | ref-only |
| Record confidence | probable |
Archivist's note
The most recent incident report in the archive, and the one that best shows the modern pattern: bystanders improvising care for three hours, weather grounding the helicopter, and a stretcher carry to the road. Clarke's advice on carrying warm clothing echoes the whistle article of May 2025, also held here. This page was recovered from inside the ProQuest bulk export already held in the archive, where it had been listed as referenced but not held. MERGED 2026-08-07 (conflicts.md C-30): this reprint's incident record inc-2025-12-14-sombrio-surfer was folded into inc-2025-12-05-sombrio-surfer — one incident, three sources.
The clipping
