News - Eagle Rafting Manager-Joe & Team, makes the News. . "They did what they were trained to do without hesitation. Were very proud of them, Joe, Jon & Paul." Tom- the Webmaster

>Subj: FW: Local Boy Doe
 August 7, 2002 * Vol. XXVII, No. 06
 
 Chesney pulls drowning man from Kern River
 By HOLLY FARRIS
 News Review Staff Writer
  A local man was in the right place at the right time last Saturday when he was able to pull a near-drowning victim the waters of the lower Kern River.  Joe Chesney and friends Paul Covert and Jon Goettig were taking their kayaks out of the water at Black Gulch when they heard commotion around the bend. JulioFernandez-Sinchay, 62, of Glendora was playing in the water with family members when he stepped off into the deeper water.
 "Paul jumped right in and started looking. I asked the family where the man had gone under," said Chesney. "They pointed at the spot where they last saw him."  Chesney then swam about 10 feet down into the murky green water and didn't see the body, so he went further downstream. "I came upon a trench that went down about 20 feet and saw a reflection coming from the bottom of the river. I couldn't tell it was a person until I was about one foot away. I just grabbed his wrist and pulled him up," said Chesney.  "As I pulled him to the surface, Paul and others were there to pull him to the shore." After trying to drain some of the fluid from the man's body, Chesney and another bystander performed CPR on Sinchay until authorities arrived. "He starting taking periodic breaths and his color changed from gray to flushed, so the CPR must have been working," said Chesney.  "It was a very traumatic situation. God was really with us that day. I just kept praying, please God. I knew he was running out of time," said Chesney. Sheriff's Deputies Cortese and Todisco responded to the emergency and found the subject had already been pulled from the water. "Bystanders had pulled the victim out on the other side of the river and were loading him into a raft to bring him across to us," said Cortese. The group then loaded Sinchay into a sheriff's car where he continued to receive CPR. Deputies transported him to an ambulance. "We thought it would be faster to meet up with the ambulance rather than wait for it," said Cortese. Sinchay was then transported to Kern Medical Center in Bakersfield where he is currently in the ICU in serious but stable condition. Chesney traveled to Bakersfield to visit him on Tuesday. This event is a reminder of the serious danger the Kern River poses to swimmers. "There are signs in English and Spanish telling people not to swim in that area. I personally responded to three calls at this same spot last year," warned Cortese. "You just don't swim in it, especially without a life vest."
 Chesney, who has been a Ridgecrest resident since1968, manages Eagle Rafting Company out of Kernville. He is intimately familiar with the river, since he leads rafting trips down it. He warned of the danger involved in just wading on the edges of the river."The lower Kern is shaped like a canal. The sand builds up on the sides around the bends, and the water flows slower over the shallow edges."  According to Chesney, the river has many places where there is not a gradual change, but a steep drop off from shallow to deep waters where the current is very strong. "People don't realize how quickly they can get into trouble and be swept away by the rapidly moving water," he said. "I'm very happy I could help keep Grandpa around for this family. Family unity is so important. To lose a loved one is terrible," said Chesney. "God was really with me. I couldn't have done that by myself."


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