Nicholas Brunner Memorial Dive Fund
Donation protected
On June 12, 2020 Nicholas Brunner, a beloved 19 year-old, took off from Trinidad Harbor located in Humboldt County, CA in his kayak to his usual fishing grounds early in the morning. By 4pm when he had not returned to shore the family contacted emergency services. Humboldt County Sheriff Offices, Coast Guard and California State Parks aided in the search of Nick . Family , friends, and community members drove the scenic route calling his name, walked beaches well into the night and thermal imaging cameras were used by off duty firefighters. It became clear that Nick was lost in the waters off of Trinidad. During the course of the search, the US Coast Guard utilized two helicopters, two 47 foot vessels and their 87 foot vessel, the Barracuda, that searched through the night. On Saturday morning the Humboldt County Sherriff Office (HCSO) continued their efforts by deploying vessels and additional deputies to aid in the search. California State Parks employees and lifeguards free dove on multiple rocks and fishing locations on both Friday and Saturday along with searching the surface but found no signs of Nick or his fishing gear.
When it became clear that all professional agencies were suspending the search after 20 hours, the obligation to recover Nick's body fell solely on the family and friends. The family was devastated at the idea that they may be lost at sea forever. The timeline and location of items recovered continued to point towards Nick being submerged in the area that he fished. Hundreds of community members had searched miles of beaches, rocky cliff faces, the surface of the harbor by water craft and dove. A plea for scuba divers was put out by family and friends and ultimately through a lot effort they were able connect with a trained civilian diver with experience in search and recovery who put together a team. These four citizen divers volunteered their time and resources and planned for three dive locations identified by the sister. After only 35 minutes on the first dive the team located Nick submerged in the waters by Camal Rock where the sister had been requesting scuba divers to search all along. This area had previously been search by free divers who did not have the ability to fully access the area.
Humboldt County despite being a coastal community with coves, harbors and a bay, with six different rivers, lagoons and countless other bodies of water does not have a professional dive response team. Families are expected to find their own divers in moments of distress and coordinate their own searches. Often times families do not have the resources and connections to make this possible. In the incident with Nick had Humboldt County had their own dive team it could have resulted in a recovery on the first night saving countless amounts of man hours and resources not to mention days of emotional turmoil for his loved ones.
The dive team that located Nick has been working diligently with the community and with local agencies to create an official volunteer dive response team to help in search, rescue and recovery missions for Humboldt County and neighboring areas. The family of Nick would like to support these efforts and are raising funds for the Nicholas Brunner Memorial Dive Fund. The money donated would go directly to providing the necessary training and equipment to help establish the response team. The first requirement is for the divers to become certified in Public Safety Scuba Instructor Course which would allow them to further train , educate and certify other divers in search and recovery. The cost of each person attending is $1500 and the initial plan is to train a minimum of six divers.
In addition to honor the divers that located Nicholas the family is establishing a scholarship to promote diving education and training through Humboldt State University.
The family would like for Nicholas' legacy to be that no other family has to endure the pain and stress of pleading for divers to recover their loved ones. Please assist the family and friends in honoring Nicholas memory by supporting the efforts of our local community to ensure future divers and establishing the dive response team.
For more photo and stories about Nick please click here .
When it became clear that all professional agencies were suspending the search after 20 hours, the obligation to recover Nick's body fell solely on the family and friends. The family was devastated at the idea that they may be lost at sea forever. The timeline and location of items recovered continued to point towards Nick being submerged in the area that he fished. Hundreds of community members had searched miles of beaches, rocky cliff faces, the surface of the harbor by water craft and dove. A plea for scuba divers was put out by family and friends and ultimately through a lot effort they were able connect with a trained civilian diver with experience in search and recovery who put together a team. These four citizen divers volunteered their time and resources and planned for three dive locations identified by the sister. After only 35 minutes on the first dive the team located Nick submerged in the waters by Camal Rock where the sister had been requesting scuba divers to search all along. This area had previously been search by free divers who did not have the ability to fully access the area.
Humboldt County despite being a coastal community with coves, harbors and a bay, with six different rivers, lagoons and countless other bodies of water does not have a professional dive response team. Families are expected to find their own divers in moments of distress and coordinate their own searches. Often times families do not have the resources and connections to make this possible. In the incident with Nick had Humboldt County had their own dive team it could have resulted in a recovery on the first night saving countless amounts of man hours and resources not to mention days of emotional turmoil for his loved ones.
The dive team that located Nick has been working diligently with the community and with local agencies to create an official volunteer dive response team to help in search, rescue and recovery missions for Humboldt County and neighboring areas. The family of Nick would like to support these efforts and are raising funds for the Nicholas Brunner Memorial Dive Fund. The money donated would go directly to providing the necessary training and equipment to help establish the response team. The first requirement is for the divers to become certified in Public Safety Scuba Instructor Course which would allow them to further train , educate and certify other divers in search and recovery. The cost of each person attending is $1500 and the initial plan is to train a minimum of six divers.
In addition to honor the divers that located Nicholas the family is establishing a scholarship to promote diving education and training through Humboldt State University.
The family would like for Nicholas' legacy to be that no other family has to endure the pain and stress of pleading for divers to recover their loved ones. Please assist the family and friends in honoring Nicholas memory by supporting the efforts of our local community to ensure future divers and establishing the dive response team.
For more photo and stories about Nick please click here .
Organizer
Jae Wood
Organizer
Arcata, CA