Sleepy Hollow Women Rescue Kayaker

Several residents of Ichabod’s Landing in Sleepy Hollow noticed a kayaker in distress Friday evening and saved him from the choppy waters of the Hudson.

The man, who lives in Tarrytown, but wished to go unnamed in this article, is an experienced kayaker who was wearing both a dry suit and a life vest.  

After the rescue, he later knocked on resident (and Sleepy Hollow trustee) Susan MacFarlane’s door to find and thank the neighbors who saved him. He had a few bottles of wine for them, and told MacFarlane what had happened.

The man was out kayaking on Friday around 5 p.m. when the wind picked up unexpectedly.  It went from a beautiful warm day to windy, cold choppy weather very quickly.  “When it gets windy, whitecaps form on the Hudson, which makes kayaking difficult,” MacFarlane, who also kayaks, said. 

The man decided to head back into the Horan's Landing beach where he launched from, but he tipped out of his kayak as he tried to turn in towards the beach. He has a very sleek, narrow kayak which is tippier than most, MacFarlane noted.

He tried repeatedly to get back into his kayak, but the wind and waves were too strong and kept blowing him over again. He later told MacFarlane he was swallowing water and getting weaker and increasingly more worried. 

Two tenants of Ichabod’s Landing saw him struggling from inside their homes (one was in her kitchen) and both came out to see what they could do to help. The man was in the water near the gazebo at that point. 

The women asked if they should call the police, but the man asked if they could reach down and help him out of the water themselves. So they went over the fence and climbed down into the rocks that go down to the water. They were able to reach out and pull him in as he kept hold of his kayak. The women got him safely up onto the rocks, and then helped him up to the fence with his kayak. 

“The three of them were able to hoist the kayak over the fence and the man plus kayak were saved!” MacFarlane said.

One woman is new to the complex; the other MacFarlane knows well as "a really giving person.”

“When I sent her an email congratulating her for saving the man she disclosed that she doesn't even swim!" MacFarlane said. "But I'm not surprised that she risked her own personal safety to help someone in distress. She's a terrific person."

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