Teen surfer helps save person after jump from San Francisco's Golden Gate Bridge

6abc.com ^ | November 12, 2026 | Luz Pena

[lowbridge]

A group of surfers helped rescue a person who jumped from the Golden Gate Bridge on Tuesday afternoon, reaching him in the water before a U.S. Coast Guard boat arrived.

Among them was 17-year-old Colby Ralls, of San Rafael, California, who was surfing with two others when voices from the bridge alerted them that something was wrong.

"I yelled to my dad, call someone. Everyone was yelling to the beach, to call someone. And then he ended up just jumping off. There was guys up there, telling him not to. He just jumped off and just right as we saw that happened. Me and a couple other guys that were out there just started paddling to go get him," Ralls said.

Ralls said the surfers immediately headed toward the person after witnessing the jump.

"He was yelling help as we were paddling towards him- while he was still alive," Ralls said.

The three surfers reached the man, whom they believed to be in his 20s, and worked to keep him afloat.

"Stabilizing the board and just keeping him afloat because you couldn't really swim and the guys were talking to him like, hey, it's okay, it's okay. We're getting help," Ralls said.

Within minutes, a Coast Guard rescue boat reached the group and took over.

"They're gone fast. You know, they're like, we need to go. We need to go. It was just such a miracle that he even survived that drop. It's kind of crazy," Ralls said.

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