An overturned kayak found in the ocean near Isla Vista Sunday morning prompted a large search followed by a plea for information about the owner who later claimed the vessel ended up in the water after being left on the beach. 

At approximately 8:30 a.m., emergency personnel were dispatched to a possible water rescue near Del Playa Drive and Camino Lindo. 

Personnel from the Santa Barbara County Fire Department responded along with an Air Support Unit helicopter due to the overturned kayak in a kelp bed some 400 yards offshore, according to emergency dispatch reports. 

Firefighters and other emergency personnel spent more than an hour at the scene trying to determine if the kayak user needed to be rescued, but suspended the search without locating anyone in peril. 

Sheriff’s deputies from the Isla Vista area asked for the public’s assistance in locating the owner of the distinctive red and yellow kayak, Raquel Zick, Sheriff’s Office public information officer, said later Sunday morning.

On Sunday afternoon, Zick said the owner had been located, telling authorities that the “kayak had been left out on the beach and washed out.”