Kayaker who died after Bodega Bay rescue identified

A 45-year-old Carmichael man was identified as the kayaker pronounced dead Friday after being pulled out of water in Bodega Bay.

Jacob Rajaniemi’s exact cause of death is being investigated along with the exact amount of time he’d been in the water before he was found, said Emily Fuller, a public information specialist with the Sonoma County Sheriff’s Office.

“Our marine unit is conducting a boating accident investigation and the coroner’s office is conducting their death investigation, so once those are both complete we should have a better idea of what happened,” Fuller told The Press Democrat.

Rajaniemi was pronounced dead at 10:53 a.m. Friday.

According to the U.S. Coast Guard, Rajaniemi was discovered about 10 a.m. after a passerby found his kayak upside down near the head of the Bodega Bay channel.  A crew responded in a 47-foot lifeboat and found Rajaniemi in the water. It appeared he was alone and had been in the area crabbing, a Coast Guard official said Friday.

Sheriff’s officials added he had crabbing equipment and was wearing a floatation device at the time he was discovered..

The recreational Dungeness crab season opened Nov. 1 along the Sonoma County coast. Commercial crab season normally would have opened shortly after but was delayed in order to protect migrating humpback whales. Commercial crabbing began last week for Sonoma County and is expected to begin early Thursday along Mendocino County, the California Department of Fish and Wildlife announced this month.

You can reach Staff Writer Colin Atagi at colin.atagi@pressdemocrat.com.