Body Of Missing Sandy Hook Kite Surfer Found

MIDDLETOWN, NJ — The body of a man who went missing while kite surfing off Sandy Hook Friday was recovered Tuesday, the U.S. Coast Guard confirmed to Patch.

The body of a man was found on the beach Tuesday at Seven Presidents Park in Long Branch, and has been sent to the regional medical examiner, according to Middletown police spokesman Lt. Paul Bailey. While it is not yet confirmed, it is likely Sinisa Bjelajac, said a Coast Guard spokeswoman. Identification is complicated by the fact that all of Bjelajac's family lives in Croatia.

Bjelajac, 44, of Hoboken, was kite surfing alone off Sandy Hook on Friday afternoon. The sport was one his passions, his friends said, and he was quite skilled at it. At approximately 5 p.m. Friday, a boater called the U.S. Coast Guard, saying they witnessed a kite surfer in distress near Horseshoe Cove in Sandy Hook Gateway National Park.

The boater said he found an unconscious man attached to a kite in a harness. As the boater tried to pull the kite surfer from the water, a large gust of wind pulled the kite line out of his hands, and he lost sight of the man in the water.

The Coast Guard searched for Bjelajac across hundreds of miles of water, from Sandy Hook to Coney Island, for nearly 24 hours after that. But it ultimately decided to suspend the search at 3:30 p.m. Saturday.

"It's really difficult to make the decision to suspend a search. You think of the person's family and friends. It's heartbreaking," Chief Warrant Officer Allyson Conroy of the U.S. Coast Guard told Patch.

Bjelajac is remembered by his friends as an international traveler who loved the outdoors and always thought of others. He was born and raised in Croatia and experienced hardship there growing up. He also lived through the violence of the Yugoslavian civil war. He lived in Cape Town, South Africa and London before ultimately coming to New York City.

And kite surfing was his beloved hobby.

"He was a very experienced kite surfer; it was his one true passion in life," said Denise Brown Branch, one of his friends from London. "In it he was free. He traveled the world kite surfing in Morocco, Greece, Croatia, Brazil, Spain, etc. He was only able to understand the culture and context of a place after he kite surfed it!"

When he first came to New York, Bjelajac lived in Brooklyn. He worked at Wolfgang's Steakhouse in Times Square across from Port Authority. He had just recently purchased an apartment, in either Hoboken or Hackensack, his friends told Patch. His Facebook profile says he lived in Hoboken.

He loved living in America, friends say.

"America was where he belonged," said Boris Miketic, 56, a Croatian friend who lives in Astoria. "Coming to America from Croatia is a huge culture shock, but he loved it here. He came because he loved exploring life."

"He was very tolerant. He worked very hard and saved his money. He wanted to travel and see the world," Miketic said. "He was adventurous and well-traveled. In fact, he had just recently returned from Spain. The Croatian community here in New York is in shock about this."

Friends now mourn a man who died too soon but ultimately doing what he loved.

"It is a tragic loss. I still cannot believe what has happened," said Jeremy Walt, a friend from South Africa.

"If he was kite surfing, he knew what he was doing," he said. "He would not risk his life doing an activity he had little experience in. He must have misjudged the weather conditions. He was very meticulous about how he approached everything."

Bjelajac is survived by a father and a brother in Croatia.

Related: Search Ends For Missing Kite-Surfer Off Jersey Shore; Tragic Trend Continues

Photos of Sinisa Bjelajac supplied by his friend, Denise Brown Branch.