Kevin Eslinger in screen grab of 10News video of Jim Grant’s photo.
Nearly a week ago, on Tuesday, June 26, Kevin Eslinger had his skull fractured when a paddleboarder cracked a paddleboard over his head. Eslinger, an accomplished paddleboarder and San Diego swim coach, had gotten into an argument with an unidentified paddleboarder when the blow occurred.
Fortunately, Eslinger was able to get back to shore on his own but the impact was sufficient to fracture his skull. He’s now recovering after being in a hospital for 2 days.
The paddleboarder who attacked him got away. As of this past weekend, no arrests had been made.
10News reported:
Pat Tope has been a swim coach with Eslinger at the Heartland Swim Association for nearly 30 years. “He’s the only one who’s not afraid to give to his fellow mankind,” said Tope. “He’s pretty special to say the least.” The fractured skull put Eslinger in the hospital for two days.
“He was having difficulty with his speech, but since then his speech is slowly starting to return,” said Tope. “So it’s going to take some time for it to get back to normal.”
According to The Inertia:
Elsinger is well-liked in the community. He lives an interesting life that revolves around water. Working as a swim coach, Elsinger has a degree in philosophy and spent years living on a sailboat. Although he generally rides his bike, he also drives an old Volkswagen van. Elsinger also holds the world record for the longest continuous prone paddle, which was 120 miles from Santa Barbara Island to Ocean Beach in San Diego.
… According to one Reddit commenter, however, police have an idea of who the assailant is. “Plenty of people know who it is and have reported him,” the commenter said. “Everyone in OB knows about it. The police have his plate #.” The Inertia
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