Surfing Santa's annual trip cut short
Updated 3 hours ago
From John Fulton’s point of view, it sounded like police cars
were responding to a nearby accident.
He was floating chest-deep in the icy-cold water of the Niagara River at the
time, dressed in a Santa Claus costume, clinging to his surfboard.
Fulton had done this before. Twenty- two other times, to be exact. It’s long
been his annual ritual to pull on a Santa suit over this wetsuit and windsurf in
the Niagara River with a “Surfing Santa” logo on his sail.
So around 10 a.m. Sunday he hit the waters again from Fort Erie and when he
got close to the American side of the river, decided it was time to turn around.
“So I was waiting for a wind,” Fulton said Sunday evening. “I was chest deep
in the water, kicking with my feet. And what happened was a woman on the America
side thought I was in trouble.”
That’s when he heard the sirens.
“At first I thought there was a car accident or something on the American
side,” he said. “But I looked around and saw the American coast guard.”
Fulton said he tried to wave the boat off by indicating he was OK. But it
didn’t take along until other boats arrived.
“I was saying ‘Look, I’m OK, I’m OK. I’m just heading back.’ But they kept
telling me to come aboard,” Fulton said.
So finally, feeling that it would be more of a hassle if he stayed in the
water, Fulton said he climbed aboard a boat from Fort Erie Underwater Rescue
Unit, which took him back to shore.
But contrary to news stories that circulating in Buffalo, Fulton says he was
in never in any danger.
“I’ve been doing this years. I know the river and I come
prepared,” he said. “I would swim right across the river in my wetsuit. I am
basically dipped in rubber.”
Fulton, 47, who owns Downtown Fitness in St. Catharines, said he does the
annual trek around the river to try to encourage people to help the homeless
during the Christmas season.