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Missing Jet Skier Found Unharmed On Bethel Island

BETHEL ISLAND (CBS SF) - A Los Gatos man who went missing while jet skiing near Bethel Island on Sunday has been found unharmed, a Contra Costa County sheriff's spokesman said Monday morning.

John McGuan, 29, had last been seen around 3 p.m. in the area of Franks Tract, sheriff's spokesman Jimmy Lee said.

McGuan's friends contacted the sheriff's marine patrol at about 6:20 p.m. after they became concerned for his safety.

The marine patrol searched for McGuan with the help of the U.S. Coast Guard and a California Highway Patrol helicopter, but were unable to locate him.

This morning, the marine patrol received a call from McGuan, who was on Jersey Island. He told deputies he had run out of gas and gotten stuck, and had swum to shore.

He slept on Jersey Island overnight, then borrowed a farmer's cellphone Monday morning to call authorities, Lee said. Deputies with the marine patrol went to pick him up.

"He was in good health," Lee said. "A little sunburned, but that was it."

The deputies dropped him off at a friend's house where he was staying on Bethel Island, Lee said. The watercraft has been recovered.

McGuan's father, Larry McGuan of Los Gatos, said he and other family members were "immensely relieved" by this morning's good news.

"We're just tickled," he said.

He said his wife is in a nursing home and is recovering from knee surgery, and that he couldn't bring himself to tell her their son was missing on Sunday. Monday morning, as he was preparing to visit her with a rabbi to tell her, a friend called and told him his son was OK.

Larry McGuan said he spoke with his son briefly Monday morning.

"He said he spent a night in the tules and he's sunburned," McGuan said. "I heard from someone else that he ran out of gas ... I'm annoyed at him for that."

He said that while his son was missing, it comforted the family to know that the sheriff's office, the Coast Guard and the CHP were all looking for him.

"Knowing that was going on really helped us through," he said.

The sheriff's office was using the incident to remind boaters to always have a float plan and to share it with other people before setting out, and to carry a cellphone with them in a watertight compartment.

(Copyright 2012 by CBS San Francisco and Bay City News Service. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)

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