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dizzyspots
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recent report over at a BOLA site, stated that some of the survivors had drifted that far south?
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mtgoat666
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| Quote: | Originally posted by dizzyspots
recent report over at a BOLA site, stated that some of the survivors had drifted that far south? |
what site? got a link?
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dizzyspots
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Goat here's where I saw it...
www.bahiadelosangeles.info
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BajaNews
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http://findourfathers.blogspot.com
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BajaNews
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Search continues for missing Americans from capsized fishing boat
http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/2011/jul/05/search-contin...
By Sandra Dibble and Michael Gardner
July 5, 2011
Survivors of the Erik boat capsizing met Tuesday with Baja California officials, including state Gov. José Guadalupe Osuna Millán. / Photo courtesy of
Baja California government
Mexican authorities on Tuesday held out hope of finding survivors in the Gulf of California’s warm waters, uninhabited islets or isolated stretches of
coastline, more than two days after a fishing vessel sank with 43 people aboard. Seven passengers, all U.S. citizens, were still missing.
Calling it “the region’s worst tragedy of its kind in recent years,” Baja California Gov. José Guadalupe Osuna Millán traveled to the port of San
Felipe to meet with survivors of the capsized boat — 19 American passengers and 16 Mexican crew members. Accompanying him was Steven Kashkett, the
U.S. consul general for Baja California, and Mexican navy Rear Adm. Jorge Rubén Bustos Espino.
“Every minute, every hour, every day that passes decreases the possibility that the missing can be found in good health,” Osuna said in a news
conference. “The No. 1 priority is locating the missing people. A second phase will be documenting the causes of the capsizing and the operating
condition of the vessel.”
Bustos said the protocol for this type of incident is to search for at least 96 hours. Under current conditions in the gulf, also known as the Sea of
Cortez, the missing could survive for about that period of time, according to U.S. Coast Guard officials.
The sea was calm Tuesday and the water temperature was 78 to 85 degrees Fahrenheit, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
Baja Sportfishing Inc., which chartered the vessel, could not be reached for comment since Sunday. The state Franchise Tax Board has suspended the
company — barring it from operating in California — since 2001 because it did not file tax returns between 1996 and 2000 and still owes more than
$6,500 in taxes, said spokesman Daniel Tahara. The business is prohibited from using its name, cannot enter into or enforce contracts and forfeits all
rights in lawsuits while under suspension, he said.
Baja Sportfishing lists an office in the Old Town neighborhood of San Diego, but it was unclear Tuesday whether the company still has a valid city
business license.
The company’s website said all fishing tours have been canceled because of the accident.
In San Felipe, the Mexican navy has been leading the search-and-rescue efforts, with assistance from Mexican state and local agencies and the Coast
Guard. On Tuesday, the Coast Guard sent a C-130 Hercules plane to the area. The fixed-wing aircraft can travel farther than the helicopter that it had
originally used for the mission.
Mexico’s foreign secretary, Patricia Espinosa, also has requested the help of a scuba diving team from San Diego to search the wreckage of the boat,
which is resting more than 200 feet underwater about 60 miles south of San Felipe.
U.S. and Mexican authorities confirmed the identity of the one fatality known so far, Leslie K. Yee, who came with friends for the six-day trip aboard
the Erik, a 115-foot vessel. The medical examiner’s office in San Felipe confirmed that he drowned.
On Saturday, the weather was clear when the vessel left San Felipe about noon and headed south. Survivors said a storm came up suddenly, with intense
winds increasing after midnight. About 2 a.m., two successive large waves caused the boat to list and then capsize, they said.
Rimah Khouri of San Diego said she was with friends at her family’s beach house near the site of the sinking. Sleeping on an outdoor deck outside
because of the heat, they were awakened by heavy winds about 1 a.m. Sunday and ran inside for shelter.
“We heard the waves crashing harder than I’ve ever seen them. The thing came out of nowhere,” Khouri said. “It was a beautiful, gorgeous day, and the
last thing I would expect is some kind of freakish gale. It just came forcefully and then it died down.”
Fishermen from the region call the sudden winds toritos (little bulls) or chubasco (severe squall). “They appear suddenly and unexpectedly,” said
Octavio Aburto-Oropeza, a researcher at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography in La Jolla.
The Gulf of California is separated from the Pacific Ocean by the Baja California peninsula. Aburto-Oropeza said the unpredictable winds most often
occur during a change of season, which can bring sudden shifts in temperature and atmospheric pressure — especially in areas of the peninsula without
mountains to act as barriers.
“They come like mini-hurricanes,” said Capt. José Luis Ríos, the harbor master of Ensenada. He has sailed extensively in the gulf and said the storms
cover small areas.
A tragedy similar to the Erik incident happened in March 2000 outside of Bahia de Los Angeles in the gulf. Five people died when a small motorboat
with University of California Davis researchers aboard capsized. Survivors said heavy waves driven by winds up to 30 miles per hour forced the craft
to turn over.
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BajaNews
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Capsized fishing boat survivors tell of ordeal
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-0706-capsize-2011070...
By Richard Marosi
July 6, 2011
Reporting from San Diego -- Tossed from the capsized boat into the churning sea, Michael Ng clung to an ice cooler and started paddling toward an
island off Baja California. But the current was dragging him and two others farther into the Gulf of California, sapping their strength.
That's when they reached into the cooler and got lucky: It was filled with candy.
"We survived the night on Hershey's Kisses and milk chocolate bars," Ng said. "And strength in God."
Ng was among 43 people aboard a fishing excursion boat that capsized early Sunday, sending all of the passengers and crew overboard and turning a
holiday trip into a harrowing ordeal of fortitude and tragedy.
Thirty-five crew members and passengers survived after paddling or swimming 16 hours to shore or being rescued by Mexican fishermen and Navy boats,
but seven U.S. tourists remain missing. Another passenger, Leslie Kimwah Yee, 64, was found dead on a desolate beach, according to Mexican and U.S.
officials.
Hopes of finding survivors dimmed Tuesday. Search teams from the U.S. Coast Guard and Mexican Navy were scheduled to dive down to the boat, the Erik,
to see if the missing people had been trapped on board, according to Mexican officials.
Relatives of the missing spent the Fourth of July and Tuesday trying to piece together their loved ones' last seconds on the boat. Joellene Bautista
of Sonoma County said her husband, Russell, was seen scrambling to get off by his friend, Jim Miller. But he hasn't been found.
"Jim saw him put on a life vest and inflate it…. He was in the process of snapping the buckle," Bautista said.
The six-day excursion had become a traditional outing for the passengers, most of whom are from the Bay Area and Central Valley. They set sail
Saturday from San Felipe, a scenic town popular with U.S. retirees and sport fishermen who enjoy the rich fisheries in the Gulf of California.
But within hours, a freak storm descended on the boat near Gonzaga Bay, about 80 miles south of San Felipe. Dotted by arid, rocky islands, the area is
known as the wind tunnel because of the westerly squalls that whip down from the craggy mountains.
Hector Rubio, one of the boat's engine room mechanics, said clouds gathered about 1:30 a.m., lightning filled the sky and gale-force winds started
blowing. "We call them bull [winds] because they hit without warning," he said.
Giant waves thrashed the deck, sending streams of water into the open hold and several small skiffs. The passengers were rousted awake as the105-foot
vessel started listing. "We sounded the alarms, and I told some crew members to wake up the passengers on the lower and upper decks," Rubio said.
"Then another wave hit and next thing you know, we're in the water."
Some people scrambled atop two life rafts, others hung onto ice coolers or stayed afloat on their life vests. Many paddled through the night, morning
and afternoon to reach an island sheltered by rocky points.
Ng, a 43-year-old IT manager from the Bay Area city of Belmont, said the storm passed quickly, leaving clear skies and warm waters. The chocolates
they found in the cooler gave them a much-needed energy boost to keep fighting the current. Nobody said much as they paddled through the night and
morning.
"We tried to keep calm, and didn't think about anything else except paddling," Ng said.
Mexican fisherman rescued them Sunday afternoon, Ng said, after about 16 hours on the open sea. Fishermen from nearby villages were the first to
encounter the survivors and alerted the Mexican Navy, which sent boats, planes and helicopters that helped rescue many of the others.
On Tuesday, Ng and the other badly sunburned survivors met with Baja California Gov. Guadalupe Osuna Millan and other government officials, whom they
credited for mobilizing the large search effort.
Ng said most of the survivors have opted to stay at a San Felipe hotel to await word on the fate of the other fishermen. "Some of my friends are
missing, and everybody is pretty concerned," he said. The waters are warm though, and Ng said his friends could survive if they can stay hydrated.
"I think they're still alive," he said.
Rubio, the engine room mechanic, isn't so sure. He remembers seeing crew members hand out many life vests but doesn't know if the passengers on the
upper decks got out in time. "It was all so fast. Imagine how many tons of water hit the boat," he said. "And after the second wave hit, we couldn't
do anything."
He blamed los toros, the bulls in Spanish, referring to the Baja gales: "They are very fierce."
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DENNIS
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| Quote: | Originally posted by BajaNews
That's when they reached into the cooler and got lucky: It was filled with candy.
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 Waste
of a perfectly good cooler.
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BajaNews
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Group aboard capsized Baja fishing boat were friends and relatives
http://www.contracostatimes.com/top-stories/ci_18411072?
By Julia Prodis Sulek, Jeanine Benca and Maria J. Ávila López
07/05/2011
They all looked so happy standing there in flip-flops and Bermuda shorts on the Mexican beach of San Felipe, six Bay Area buddies with broad smiles
about to head out on what was supposed to be one of the best fishing trips of their lives.
Don Lee, of San Ramon, 62, who organized the trip that included a total of 27 friends and relatives, wore a Panama hat and gave the camera a thumbs-up
sign, as if they would encounter nothing but smooth sailing and plentiful fish.
But little more than a day later, the picture turned into a haunting image, with one of them dead and Lee and two others missing after back-to-back
monster waves from a sudden storm flipped the boat in the darkness of Sunday morning. Many of the 43 aboard were left swimming to shore that was two
miles away or hanging on to life rafts and ice chests for upward of 16 hours. All the crew has been accounted for, but of the 27 passengers, seven
remain missing.
On Tuesday, the two men in the center of the photo -- Lee Ikegami, of San Martin, and Mike Ng, of Belmont -- called home to loved ones.
"I've never seen my husband this upset before," Ikegami's wife, Murphy, said after talking to him by phone at the El Capitan hotel in San Felipe.
"He's absolutely devastated."
U.S. Coast Guard helicopters circled over the Sea of Cortez on Tuesday, looking across the calm and warm waters for the missing fishermen from the
boat named "Erik" that capsized in a storm, with lightning and strong winds.
Nighttime terror
Ikegami told his wife that most of the passengers were sleeping in their cabins about 2:30 a.m. Sunday -- less than a day into the six-day excursion
-- when the first wave broadsided the boat and turned it on its side.
"He says he was in his cabin, he was fortunate. He was on the upside. He could open his door," Murphy Ikegami said. "The guys on the other side were
under water. They couldn't open their doors."
Ikegami "worked his way out" then found himself in the open sea, next to a round life raft that he grabbed. "He hung on," she said. Within four
minutes, a second wave hit the Erik, flipping the boat over and sinking it.
The body of Leslie Yee, who wore glasses and tennis shoes in the photo, was found washed up on a lonely beach, about 67 miles south of San Felipe. He
had retired two years ago as a transportation manager after 37 years at the San Francisco Chronicle, according to the newspaper. Gene Leong from
Dublin, who carried a camera in the photograph, and Al Mein of Twain Harte, who appeared to be saluting the camera, remained lost at sea Tuesday.
The vessel rested on the sea floor, some 200 feet deep. Divers have been called in to search the cabins, but they won't begin until the end of the
week, said Escobedo Ortiz, the Mexican director of civil protection agency for the state of Baja California.
"Right now our priority is searching for people who might be alive either at sea or on the beaches or islands or local mountains surrounding the
area," Ortiz said in a telephone interview from Mexico on Tuesday.
In the Bay Area, relatives of the missing couldn't stand the wait.
Don Lee's wife, May, is hoping someone will step forward with the private plane and fly her and other wives to San Felipe to somehow help with the
search.
She is clinging to the hope that her husband of 35 years will be found alive.
"He's a fighter," she said from her San Ramon home. "Each day that passes that we don't find him, it gets harder and harder."
Lee, Ikegami and Yee, who died, had been friends since the early 1970s, when they met while living in the same apartment building on Clement Street in
San Francisco. Lee and Yee and their wives taught the Ikegamis how to play mah-jongg, Murphy Ikegami said. "We played every week."
The trio enjoyed the annual fishing trip, but most years they just made day trips. This year was going to be extra special because they were staying
aboard for the whole week. They also decided to drive instead of fly, Ikegami said, because they wanted to be able to bring their full catch home,
instead of being limited by airline restrictions. Ikegami and Yee drove down together in Yee's truck.
"One second I am just so happy my husband is all right," she said. "Then in the next moment, you're devastated and have two close friends that are
missing."
The 115-foot boat, operated by Baja Sportfishing and Diving, was a well-known in the area and had a clean safety record, Ortiz said. It set out on a
clear day. The kind of quick and powerful storm that hit the boat is not unusual in the Sea of Cortez, he said, and like boats usually do, the Erik
was trying to reach the shelter of a cove when it was hit by back-to-back big waves.
Hope for the missing
Investigators are speculating that because it was so hot, all the windows were open on the boat, "which made it easy for the water to come in" and
swamp the boat, Ortiz said.
Baja Sportfishing Inc. lost its rights to operate in California in 2001 when it failed to file tax returns from 1996 to 2000, according to records at
the Franchise Tax Board. It appears to be operating legally, however, with a valid license from San Diego listed under a slightly different name, Baja
Sportfishing and Diving. The company didn't respond to requests for comment, instead issuing a statement: "We are devastated by this horrible tragedy.
Every effort is being made to assist the authorities in the search. Our thoughts and prayers continue to be with the families." The fishing company
also announced it has canceled further trips because of the tragedy.
Among the survivors was Charles Gibson, police chief with the Contra Costa Community College District.
But seven others are missing, including the three men from the photograph; and Russ Bautista, of Penn Grove; Mark Dorland; Brian Wong, of Berkeley;
and Shawn Craddock.
Wong's Berkeley neighbors describe him as an avid fisherman and dedicated family man who works for Alameda County Human Resource Services.
"Hopefully they find him and he's wearing a life jacket," said Rick Tanaka who lives a few doors down from Wong.
At the Dublin home of Gene Leong, 67, family and friends gathered waiting for word.
His son, Michael Leong, said his father is a good swimmer. They are hoping for the best. If everything works out, he said, his father will come home
with just a "sunburn."
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Lisa Fernandez, Mark Gomez, Doug Oakley and Matt Krupnick contributed to this report.
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BajaNews
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Albert Mein (L) and Don Lee (R).
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BajaNews
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http://www.facebook.com/pages/Find-our-Fathers/2372484963033...
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BajaNews
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Mexico, U.S. search for seven missing off Baja coast
http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/07/05/us-mexico-boat-idU...
By Lizbeth Diaz
Jul 5, 2011
Mexico's Navy and the U.S. Coast Guard searched for seven shipwrecked American vacationers on Tuesday, two days after their boat was caught in a
fearsome storm off the Baja California peninsula.
The Mexican Navy said it was leading the search in the Sea of Cortez for any survivors or bodies of the missing passengers who were out fishing in a
boat that capsized, broke in two and sunk on Sunday.
The U.S. Coast Guard said it was assisting with a C-130 cargo plane flying over the area.
The 115-foot (35-meter) chartered fishing boat dubbed the Erik was carrying 43 people when it capsized early on Sunday. The Mexican Navy, fishermen
and other vessels rescued 35 of the passengers and crew members, saved by a crew member who swam for hours to reach the coast and call for help.
Mexican authorities identified the body of one passenger, and the missing seven are feared dead.
All of the missing individuals are from California, according to port official Dora Winkler in San Felipe, Mexico.
The Erik encountered the storm and overturned on its first night at sea, Mexican officials said. The stricken vessel was found 87 miles south of San
Felipe, Mexico, a popular holiday and fishing resort south of Mexicali.
Crew member Rodrigo Romero recalled in San Felipe how it took him 17 hours to swim to shore and call for help, swimming with his life jacket and
occasionally losing consciousness as he pulled and kicked through the waves.
"Nobody wanted me to separate from the group but I knew I had to reach someone with a telephone or a radio," he said.
"Thank God I found an American who was camping on the beach. As I lay exhausted on the beach, he offered me help, he had a phone and a radio," Romero
told Reuters, his arms and legs badly cut and his face burned from the sun.
Tourist guide Marco Avila, floating in the water for hours with another eight crew members and Americans, said they were saved by 12 bottles of soda
they found floating in a white polystyrene ice box among the wreckage.
"We shared them about and took little sips. Then we broke the ice box into pieces and used it to swim," he said.
-----
Reporting by Marty Graham in San Diego, Lizbeth Diaz in San Felipe, Robin Emmott in Monterrey; Writing by Alex Dobuzinskis and Robin Emmott; Editing
by Steve Gorman and Jerry Norton.
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mtgoat666
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| Quote: | Originally posted by BajaNews
Survivors said a storm came up suddenly, with intense winds increasing after midnight. About 2 a.m., two successive large waves caused the boat to
list and then capsize, they said. |
I often think that wearing a life vest is confining, uncomfortable. Makes you realize how fast things happen, maybe better to wear the uncomfortable
thing.
Seems like bad ch1t always happens at night. Good reason to use a life jacket as a pillow, keep it handy for when ch1t happens fast.
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BajaNews
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Also, "Missing" (PDF) posters/flyers (same image that's displayed in one of the previous posts here) were also available through the BOLA site link
above:
In English:
http://www.bahiadelosangeles.info/pdf/find_our_fathers_eng.p...
En Español:
http://www.bahiadelosangeles.info/pdf/find_our_fathers_esp.p...
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MexicoTed
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I have been in contact with some family members of the missing through another contact in the Bay Area. Some may plan to come down to San Felipe and
head south. If so, hopefully the Nomads in the area can give them as much assistance as possible. If I hear anything, I will post.
Ted
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bbbait
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We are heading down that way tomorrow, Thursday morning.. Our place is at Bahia Cristina, and we will be in the area for 3-4 days. If for any
reason anybody needs anything that we may have to offer, they are certainly welcome to it. We are on the north end of the campo, and if not there we
will be down towards Gonzaga somewhere checking things out. Our place will be open for water, shade, or if we're there much more in the way of adult
beverages! Plenty of room and right on the water for boat access or staging for vehicles or whatever. Anyone is welcome to camp there for as long
as they need or want to...
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MexicoTed
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Thanks bbbait, if they decide to come down I will let them know of your hospitality and contact you.
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BajaWarrior
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Location: Mission Bay, San Diego. Playa Hermosa, San Felipe.
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Mood: Anxious to get south
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| Quote: | Originally posted by David K
Just read the thread... and not surprised, as the wind that hit us (20 miles south of San Felipe) Saturday evening was way way strong and lasted all
night... It was easily over 50 mph where we were.
Driving south to Gonzaga Bay Sunday mid-day we saw nothing unusual... no copters, no troop trucks, normal military inspection at Gonzaga Bay check
point.
Very sad... |
Hey David,
We saw you coming down the Huerfinito grade on Sunday. We were heading back North after a day exploring almost all the way to Punta Bufeo. We were
driving a Marroon '94 4Runner with the headlights on and a TowBar on the front. Sorry we missed you.
Quite a blow on Saturday night for sure, and yes, we didn't see any activity either where we were while in the Bufeo area at the time we were there
but the accident time line tells me that when we were leaving to head North the first survivors were being found by a Panga Fisherman so word had not
gotten out yet.
On Monday morning however we watched San Diego news and heard of the news just then. That was about the time the Helicopters started showing up and
consuming VHF Channel 16 for the remainder of the day.
Ironically, on Saturday we were using our SeaDoos along with another couple and after a day in the Bahia wakeboarding and water skiing, we decided as
it was such a nice day on the Sea to check out a south bound ship about 7 miles out the sea. That boat was the Eric which we circled and drew waves
from everybody on the boat. We jumped off of the SeaDoos and took a dip and watched the boat slip away. That was about 4:30 p.m.
The Eric sank 10 hours later...
[Edited on 7-7-2011 by BajaWarrior]
Haven't had a bad trip yet....
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David K
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Wow...
We pulled over at the wide vista area on the long Huerfanito downgrade and had lunch... We were there maybe 45 minutes before driving on south. It was
freeky cool with the overcast skys, which made eating lunch outside of the A/C truck cab comfortable...
What a sad event that neither you nor we knew was happening just a few miles off the coast from where we were driving by!
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redhilltown
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I have tried to read the entire thread and maybe I missed it, but having camped many times in this area and often north of Gonzaga, I was just
wondering if the winds were onshore or offshore? The whacky crazy winds that have nailed us camping have been offshore and to me so much more
dangerous if you are fishing or on the water. We have used our small aluminum boat more than once to go out to San Luis but I never felt that
uncomfortable because you have the island to run to and shore is not that far away if the winds are from the north (and you see the rustling on the
horizon)...but those hot offshore winds that blow down the passes are brutal. I am guessing from all the reports is that the timing of the event (2
a.m.) is the most unfortunate aspect of all.
Gotta still keep the fingers crossed.
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David K
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Where we were that night (20 miles south of San Felipe)... the wind came from across the gulf, south of San Felipe... it hit us from the southeast
blowing northwest. It was very severe... painfully blowing sand... giant waves.
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