On the afternoon of Tuesday, September 19th, John Cline, 35, of Green Castle, Pennsylvania, who was renting a cottage with four friends a mile north of the Avon fishing pier, borrowed a kayak from a neighbor and launched it into the ocean. While his friends watched from the cottage’s deck, he paddled out about 50 yards, then flipped the kayak. They saw him holding onto the kayak and headed down to the beach to help him out. When they got there, they found the kayak, but there was no sign of Cline. One of them made a 911 call and reported the accident. Rangers and Dare County rescue personnel responded and the Coast Guard dispatched a helicopter. A search was conducted until dusk, then resumed again the following day. No sign of Cline has been found, and he’s presumed to have drowned. Rangers John McCutcheon and David Carter investigated this incident for the NPS.
