Search for Missing Beardsley Lake Paddleboarder Stretches Into Multiple Days

A multi-agency search is stretching into its fourth day for a 58-year-old man who disappeared while paddleboarding at Beardsley Lake in Tuolumne County, after his empty board was found drifting on the water within about 30 minutes of him leaving a designated swim area. Arturo Daniel Duran was last seen around 3 p.m. paddling away from the swim zone on an orange and blue inflatable paddleboard, and he was not wearing an ankle leash or a life jacket, according to deputies.

The Tuolumne County Sheriff's Office responded to Beardsley Lake at about 4:20 p.m. on Saturday, according to the sheriff's office, after Duran's family noticed his paddleboard floating in the water without him on it. As reported by CBS Sacramento, the sheriff's office boat team launched a search shortly after, and search and rescue teams, along with a K9 unit, soon joined the effort. Deputies described Duran as a 5-foot-9-inch, 200-pound Hispanic man with brown eyes, short salt-and-pepper hair, a salt-and-pepper mustache and goatee, a large scar across his torso, and several tattoos on his chest and back, per the Tuolumne County Sheriff's Office. He was last seen wearing a gray short-sleeved shirt, green shorts, and a tan fishing hat.

Searchers Battle Boulders, Wind and Murky Water

Search crews have faced brutal conditions beneath the surface, including limited visibility, strong winds, large boulders, and steep granite drop-offs, per the CBS Sacramento report. The lake's terrain makes visual search methods extremely difficult, a challenge compounded by the reservoir's geography: Beardsley sits at 3,315 feet elevation in a steep, rocky canyon on the Middle Fork of the Stanislaus River, reachable only by a winding seven-mile mountain road where safe driving speeds average under 30 mph, according to the Stanislaus National Forest.

To cut through the murk, search teams deployed Calaveras County's “Towfish,” a torpedo-shaped side-scan sonar device towed behind a boat to map the lakebed, alongside an underwater remote-operated vehicle, aerial drones, and dive teams, the sheriff's office said in a statement shared on Facebook. The Calaveras County Sheriff's Office supplied the underwater ROV, while a Stanislaus County Sheriff's Office helicopter searched the lake from above during the initial search efforts, with California Highway Patrol aircraft later joining aerial surveillance. In total, the operation has drawn resources from four sheriff's offices — Tuolumne, Calaveras, Stanislaus and Amador — reflecting the scale of coordination such mountain water disappearances can demand.

A Reservoir Known for Deep, Cold, Unpredictable Water

Beardsley Lake was formed when the 284-foot-tall earthen Beardsley Dam was completed in 1957, creating a reservoir that spans 1.1 square miles and holds up to 97,800 acre-feet of water, according to Wikipedia. The dam and reservoir are part of the Stanislaus River Tri-Dam Project, jointly owned and operated by the Oakdale Irrigation District and the South San Joaquin Irrigation District, per the Tri-Dam Project. The lake has long been known among Sierra Nevada outdoor visitors for sudden, strong afternoon wind gusts, deep cold water, and hazardous underwater granite obstructions that can create sudden trouble for small craft, as SFGate reported in 2004.

Deputies continued searching for Duran after multiple days, according to the sheriff's office. It remains unclear how deep the water was where the empty paddleboard was found drifting, or whether afternoon wind gusts played a role in separating Duran from his board — details that have not been released as the operation continues.

Life Jacket Rules Apply Even on Paddleboards

Under a 2008 U.S. Coast Guard regulatory ruling, stand-up paddleboards operating beyond designated swimming, surfing, or bathing zones are legally classified as vessels, meaning users are required to carry a Coast Guard-approved life jacket for every person on board, according to the U.S. Coast Guard Auxiliary. California state law similarly requires all recreational watercraft, including paddleboards, to carry at least one Coast Guard-approved life jacket per passenger, with children under 13 required to wear one at all times while underway, per the California Division of Boating and Waterways. While adults are not required to wear the jacket on their body, water safety officials strongly encourage it.

The stakes of that guidance are stark: U.S. Coast Guard national recreational boating statistics show that 87% of all drowning victims in 2023 were not wearing a personal flotation device at the time of the incident, according to the California Division of Boating and Waterways. Anyone with information about Duran's disappearance is urged to contact the Tuolumne County Sheriff's Office.