NYPD divers rescued a 59-year-old kitesurfer tangled in his own netting — and struggling in the ocean Saturday afternoon in Queens, police said.
The man was spotted by a passerby who saw him flailing in the waters near Breezy Point in Rockaway at about 1:30 p.m. and called 911, police said.
“He was completely tangled up in the lines,” said Sgt. Mark DiRenzo, who co-piloted the helicopter that rushed to the man’s aide.
DiRenzo and his co-pilot, Officer Robert Glennon, hovered the aircraft about 100 feet above the stranded surfer and lowered the two scuba divers into the water, NYPD diver Michael Guida told The Post.
“He was stuck, and he couldn’t get free,” Guida said, adding the the November water is chilly and the current. “There was a significant wind and some chop in that area.”
Guida and his fellow diver, Officer Tyler Phillips, were able to untangle with man and hoist him into the helicopter less than 20 minutes later, he said.
The quick-moving team returned the man — and his yellow surfboard — safely to shore, where he refused medical attention.
“He said he was okay. He wasn’t in too much stress, other than the fact that he was entangled,” said Guida.
A photo after the rescue shows the kitesurfer at nearby Floyd Bennett Field, smiling next to his rescuers in front of the helicopter that lifted him back to land.