2 Lives Lost, 1 Spared in Struggles With Nature : Man Survives Fall of 60 Feet, Night Injured on Beach

LA JOLLA — In the most painful night of his life, Victor Ballard crawled along a rocky Encinitas beach for 12 hours, the crashing waves drowning out his cries for help, after a 60-foot fall from the bluffs above had broken both his feet.

His shattered left foot wrapped in his shirt, the 33-year-old transient picked his way through the darkness along a half-mile stretch of rocky coastline until he was rescued Wednesday by an early morning surfer.

“It was painful, but I knew I had to keep going,” the redheaded Ballard recalled during an interview Thursday from his bed at Scripps Memorial Hospital in La Jolla. “I was mad. I was cursing at myself for the idiotic judgment that got me into this situation. At the same time, I kept telling myself ‘Hey, I’m alive!’ ”

Rescue workers say Ballard was indeed fortunate to have survived both the fall and his nighttime crawl. “He suffered two badly broken feet. And then to be exposed to the elements all night--he’s real lucky,” said Encinitas fire operations Chief Don Heiser.

Doctors say Ballard suffered a compound fracture in his left foot, a fractured right foot and spine and a mild case of hypothermia. He underwent surgery Thursday afternoon.

Officials say numerous people are killed in falls from unstable bluffs along the Southern California coastline. Others survive with a host of injuries.

Ballard, a self-employed handyman, says he had spent several nights in recent weeks sleeping outdoors along the coastal brush in the northern San Diego County city. Just before dusk on Tuesday, he recalled, he was walking north of Swami’s Beach along a section of bluff posted with warning signs when the ground gave way.

“I ran and jumped from the soft sand to this lip of harder-packed sand--and the thing disintegrated on me,” he said. “And I thought, ‘That’s all she wrote now, Vic.’ ”

He tumbled an estimated three stories--landing on both feet atop the uneven rocks below.

“My right foot was all swollen,” he said. “And the bone and tendon were sticking out of my left foot about six inches. I winced just looking at it. I wrapped my shirt around it just to keep the stuff inside.”

He called out for someone to telephone 911, but the crashing surf at high tide muffled his cries. “But I didn’t panic. I kept my cool. And the blasts of water refreshed me. Good old salt water.”

Over the last several months, the Newport Beach native had used his pickup truck to operatea local trash- and furniture-hauling business he called “Trash Busters.” When he could, he slept in local hotels while bouncing back from what he called a bitter divorce.

When money was short, he slept on the bluffs--where he met a handful of other transients who regularly camp out on the beach. That night, Ballard tried to crawl the mile or so to thecamp.

The going was arduous, he recalled. He winced each time the jagged rocks cut into his knees as he tried to keep his two broken feet elevated. Soon, a rhythm developed--a few pulls ahead, then time to rest.

“I was moaning the whole way,” he said. “But I tried to keep my mind on the long-term goal of getting out of there.”

Ballard recalled that when dawn came, he began calling out to people he thought he saw walking toward him on the beach.

About 8 a.m., rescue workers say, an unidentified surfer spotted Ballard lying on the pebbled shoreline. “I called out to him and he said ‘What do you need?’ ” Ballard said. “Then when he saw my wounds, he flipped out. He tried to carry me.”

Another man was summoned to call paramedics, who eventually lifted Ballard with a wire rescue basket.

Doctors say he will need several months to recuperate.

Meanwhile, Ballard has a message for others who take chances along the unstable coastline bluffs.

“Don’t do it,” he said, looking down at the ice packs on his ankles--and at his feet, which were wrapped in casts and bandages. “Use me as an example. Those signs say ‘Danger, stay away,’ and they mean it.”