‘This truly breaks my heart’: Family reacts a week after NC boater vanishes during fishing trip

Rodney Overton
·3 min read

OAK ISLAND, N.C. (WNCN) — The family of a man who vanished off the North Carolina coast last weekend is mourning his loss.

Jeffrey Kale, 47, left a boat ramp exactly a week ago, Saturday afternoon, April 6, near Southport and was headed offshore for a fishing trip, the U.S. Coast Guard said.

His family reported him missing around 10:30 that night and a massive search was launched including the Blackjack and Steeples areas 30 miles off the North Carolina coast.

The large search was suspended Monday evening, the Coast Guard said.

Then, Tuesday morning, a Good Samaritan boater found Kale’s 32-foot Cape Horn center-console boat  — floating empty with fishing lines extended into the water — about 83 miles east of Wrightsville Beach.

Jeffrey Kale and his boat in photos from the Oak Island Police Department
Jeffrey Kale (left) in a photo from the U.S. Coast Guard and his boat in a photo from the Oak Island Police Department

That discovery restarted the search by the U.S. Coast Guard, Oak Island Police and the U.S. Navy — along with many other Good Samaritan vessels along the North Carolina coast.

However, Wednesday night, the search for Kale, of Clover, South Carolina — just south of Charlotte — was suspended again.

Kale’s son wrote on Facebook about his father just after the second search effort was suspended Wednesday night

“This truly breaks my heart, without my dad I’d be nowhere close to the young man I am today and I’m grateful for everything my dad taught me in life the past 15 years,” Brandon Kale wrote along with the U.S. Coast Guard post that announced the suspended search.

Jeffrey Kale (left) in a photo from WJZY. Kale's 32-foot Cape Horn center-console boat (right) when it was found empty about 83 miles east of Wrightsville Beach, North Carolina, this week. Photo courtesy: U.S. Coast Guard.
Jeffrey Kale (left) in a photo from WJZY. Kale’s 32-foot Cape Horn center-console boat (right) when it was found empty about 83 miles east of Wrightsville Beach, North Carolina, this week. Photo courtesy: U.S. Coast Guard.

“I still have hope that he may turn up may the Lord decide. I love you daddy,” Brandon Kale added.

Family friends meanwhile asked for many to remember Kale’s family.

“Please pray for the family of Jeff Kale. He was a great guy. Loved fishing and loved his family!” John Thompson Jr., of Albemarle, wrote on Facebook.

“I fished with him a few times— in fact, he invited me to fish with him the first day I met him!  Praying for his wife, sons, and parents and all his family and friends,” Thompson added.

Outdoor enthusiasts noted that the sea can be dangerous during a solo trip.

Jeffrey Kale, 47, was last seen around 4 p.m. Saturday departing the Southport Wildlife Boat Ramp in Brunswick County, officials said. Photo from Oak Island Police Department
Jeffrey Kale, 47, was last seen around 4 p.m. Saturday departing the Southport Wildlife Boat Ramp in Brunswick County, officials said. Photo from Oak Island Police Department

“Kale was an experienced angler and had spent hundreds of hours on the water. We all have to respect the ocean and realize that at any moment a routine trip can turn bad,” Trilogy Outdoors, which focuses on South Carolina fishing, wrote.

The publication from Murrells Inlet, South Carolina, also asked people to pray for Kale and his family.

The entire search since Kale was reported missing Saturday night was about 100 combined hours and covered more than 11,690 square miles, which is an area greater than the size of Maryland, the U.S. Coast Guard reported.

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