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BajaNews
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Billings couple loses sailboat off coast of Baja
http://www.billingsgazette.net/articles/2007/01/08/news/loca...
By LORNA THACKERAY
Fear gripped Leslie Downing every time the swells threw her sailboat's bow 30 feet above the churning waters off the Mexican coast and slapped it down
again.
A pre-Thanksgiving dream voyage the Billings woman and her husband, Dennis, were making from San Diego to Cabo San Lucas at the tip of Mexico's Baja
Peninsula had turned into their worst nightmare.
Waves 20 feet high washed over the deck of the 41-foot sloop she and her husband had named Christabella. Only a tether attached to his life vest kept
Dennis from falling into the storm-roiled Pacific Ocean.
Then the boat's 9,000-pound keel pounded an uncharted reef 300 yards from shore. "I'll never forget that sound, the feeling you get," she said. "I
tell you what, I did a lot of praying."
The couple had been fighting the storm for eight hours and was nearly spent.
"You hear about people becoming so exhausted they just give up," she said. "That's about where we were."
"The adrenaline was way gone," Dennis said.
The engine had blown and the mainsail had crashed to the deck from its 56-foot mast as a chubasco - a sudden, violent tropical storm - overtook them.
The forecast before they had left Ensenada, Mexico, the day before called for smooth sailing and 9 to 10 mph winds for the next 10 days.
The chubasco formed about 10 miles out at sea. To avoid the worst of it, they had moved to within five miles of shore. Even there, winds were stirring
15-foot waves.
Dennis, who had taken advanced training at a top sailing school in San Francisco, had learned what to do in all kinds of emergencies. His chart showed
a bay not far from their position and he maneuvered the craft into waters where he believed they could ride out the storm.
He hadn't counted on the unmarked reef - or the two rocks "the size of a house" that suddenly rose from the crashing swells behind them. The waves
were dragging the sea anchor, and with it the Christabella, toward those rocks.
"My insides got all hot and liquidy," Leslie said. "I believed we were going to die."
Dennis had her get on the radio and issue a "pan" call.
"That's a step lower than mayday, but it means you've got serious problems and need help," Dennis said.
They fired their emergency flares, trying to attract attention in the small village they could see on shore, but the flare, "about as bright as a
match stick," made a disappointing arc into the ocean. Then they tried the bullhorn, broadcasting their cries for help at ear-damaging volume. Nobody
heard them over the crashing waves.
Finally, they decided the time had come to set off their emergency locator signal.
Leslie, who doesn't speak much Spanish, eventually got an answer on the radio. Almost giddy with relief, she told Dennis the Mexican Navy was on its
way and would be there in 10 minutes.
"The Mexican Navy turned out to be three fishermen in a 15-foot panga with a 75-horsepower engine," Dennis said with a laugh at home in Billings. A
panga is a small open boat, Dennis said.
The fishermen tried to tow the crippled sloop, but their own craft was too small. They told the Downings to jump in the water and that they would pull
them out. Leslie balked.
"There was no way I could make myself jump," she said. "The wind was blowing and the water was churning and I was like, 'Are you crazy?' "
The fishermen, battered by the waves and the larger sailboat, maneuvered alongside. As Leslie was almost aboard the panga, a swell knocked her inside
and on top of the fishermen. Dennis was able to just step aboard as the fishing boat rose on the breaking wave.
"Those Mexicans were heroic," Dennis said.
At great risk to themselves, people in the fishing village tried to free the sailboat, but she sank in 30 feet of water, her mast the only thing
visible in the bay. A local diver tried to retrieve some of the Downings' belongings but was interrupted by the arrival of great white sharks. He
slowly made his way back to shore, avoiding paddling or splashing that the sharks could mistake for food noises.
As traumatic as the sinking was, the Downings say that overall, they had a good experience.
"We had thought there was no more kindness left," Leslie said. "What we have found is there is kindness out there in smaller pockets."
From the minute the fishermen arrived, the Downings received nothing but kindness and sympathy, they said. Everyone - from the poor people in the
fishing village to strangers willing to lend credit cards - rekindled their faith in the human race.
The matriarch of the village of about 300 - a woman named Adella - offered them a fishing cabana and brought them fried clams with rice and corn. The
cabana was a cinderblock structure with a concrete floor and bunk beds, "but it looked like heaven to us," Leslie said.
They were safe on dry land but had no money, passports or clothing, other than the tattered togs they were wearing when Christabella foundered. The
villagers brought them some clothing to supplement the diesel-saturated items the fisherman had retrieved from the sunken boat.
A group of sport fishermen from Bakersfield, Calif., lent them $200 and gave them food. One of the native fishermen offered to give them $200 he had
saved.
"Nobody would take money for anything," Dennis said.
"We asked Adella how much we owed and if there was anything that she needed that we could send," Leslie said. "All she kept saying is that she was
just glad we were safe. She told us to send her a picture of us with our family and friends smiling. She said nothing else matters."
Once the Downings decided their boat would not be salvageable, they signed a legal document turning it over to the town for whatever the fishermen
could retrieve.
Then they had to find a way back home.
Adella and her husband drove them up the peninsula to Ensenada, where they could catch a bus to Tijuana.
"We looked like a couple of street people with our borrowed clothes and what was left of our belongings in two plastic garbage bags," Leslie said.
At Tijuana, the only document they could show was a police report of the boating accident. Sympathetic border guards allowed them to cross into the
United States.
They took a trolley to the train depot in San Diego, but were unable to get on a train that would have taken them to Santa Maria, where Dennis' sister
lived and where they had left their car.
A stranger at the station collected their belongings, got them a taxi and called a hotel. After paying the hotel bill, they had $7 left, and had a hot
dog at a 7-Eleven.
Broke and bedraggled, they got a taxi to a Wells Fargo Bank in San Diego. Looking as they did, and with no documentation, the Downings didn't know how
they would be received.
They showed a bank officer the police report and told their story. She cancelled her appointments for the day and set to work helping the Downings.
Before they left the bank, they had $5,000 from their Wells Fargo account in Billings in their hands.
The bank officer advised them to go to the California Department of Motor Vehicles and see if the department could get them copies of their Montana
driver's licenses so they would have some identification.
They took a taxi to the DMV. None of the cab drivers they rode with that day charged them, they said. A clerk at the DMV told them he couldn't help,
but a well-dressed man mingling among the customers heard their story and asked them to step into his office. Dennis said the man turned out to be the
DMV director. He got the DMV in Montana to fax copies of the driver's licenses to California.
From there, the Downings caught a train to Santa Maria. It was 1 a.m. when a bus dropped them off at a hotel. Although they had cash, the desk clerk
said she couldn't let them in unless they had a valid credit card.
They were sitting in front of the hotel when a car pulled up. The driver, a tourist from Scotland, took them to the hotel and put their room on his
credit card. The next morning Dennis paid the bill in cash and they were on their way.
His sister spent Thanksgiving in Arizona, but left the Downings a key and the run of her house. After purchasing the necessities and regrouping, they
drove to San Francisco to have Thanksgiving with Leslie's brother. He gave them some luggage.
The Downings made it home to Billings on Nov. 26. Leslie, a nurse, went back to work Dec. 11.
They lost the sloop they had bought for $20,000 and spent another $20,000 and months of labor refitting. Their homeowner's insurance has agreed to
cover personal property that went down with the boat, including a computer, cameras and telephones.
The Downings put together a Christmas box for Adella and the villagers, including a VHF radio for communicating with vessels on the ocean, boxes of
chocolates, and clothing, pens, pencils, crayons, paper and coloring books for the children.
Despite disastrous results on their first attempt at an extended ocean journey, their fascination with a lifestyle that began six years ago when they
traded a horse trailer for their first sailboat has not diminished.
Leslie, who said she could barely swim when they got their first boat, was hooked her third day of a trial run in Puget Sound.
"I loved everything about it," she said, and now considers herself "a pretty good first mate."
Not even two months after the Christabella sank, they are ready to go again. Dennis, a retired pharmaceutical representative, went to Puerto Vallarta
to check out a 45-foot sailboat for sale there. If it doesn't seem right, there's another likely prospect moored in Tobago in the West Indies.
Dennis would like to live on a new boat for the winter. Leslie wants to sail it through the Panama Canal.
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Bruce R Leech
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this story is very strange indeed. these folks are lucky to be alive. they buy a 41-foot sloop for 20,000 and try to sail it to Cobo. my guess is the
panga that rescued them cost more than that.
and now Dennis would like to live on a new boat for the winter. Leslie wants to sail it through the Panama Canal. God help them.
Dennis, who had taken advanced training at a top sailing school in San Francisco, had learned what to do in all kinds of emergencies. I would like to
know the name of the sailing school they went to and if they graduated or not. I don't think it is good to head for shore when the weather gets bad.
If they were where they should have been the storm would have been between them and the shore. and they would have been fine.
I hope they change there minds and stay on land. the next time some one might get hurt trying to rescue them.
Bruce R Leech
Ensenada
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Dave
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| Quote: | Originally posted by BajaNews
The chubasco formed about 10 miles out at sea. To avoid the worst of it, they had moved to within five miles of shore.
Dennis, who had taken advanced training at a top sailing school in San Francisco, had learned what to do in all kinds of emergencies. 
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Skeet/Loreto
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God Bless Dennis and his Wife.
It takes Guts and a Adventurerous Soul to get out of a Rut and take a "Risk"
The Mexicano People coming through in Their Kind Way.
Go for it, both of you. Do not get into the Tracks of the Wimps and Sheep!!
Skeet/Loreto
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ArvadaGeorge
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You have to admire the courage and skill of the Mexican Fisher men.
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shari
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Mood: there is no reality except the one contained within us "Herman Hesse"
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This addresses a problem here on the coast...with no professional Coast Guard to take the risk of saving people, the fishermen are on duty. I have
seen it so often that local guys risk their lives to save a green cruiser...not real experienced. It warms my heart to see these brave fishermen but
breaks my heart thinking they could die and leave their own families destitute. I think they deserve more than a radio and some chocolates, they saved
their lives.
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tripledigitken
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Does anyone know the village the fishermen were from?
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Don Alley
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A professional, government-funded rescue capability seems to be a missing link in Mexico's attempts to promote boating in Baja California waters. With
all of the development by Singlar and API in the Loreto/Puerto Escondido area: New big trucks, pickups, hoists, boat storage facilities, offices...the
local rescue craft, minus engines, rots away on it's trailer.
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MrBillM
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OffShore
Virtually every publication or other technical advice I've seen and read stress the value of sailing the Baja (or any other such) Coast well offshore,
50 miles or more, but it is something that too many sailors can't bring themselves to do. They gain some solace from being able to see the distant
shoreline, not realizing that it could be their worst enemy.
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wilderone
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this story underscores why Escalera Nautica won't work. And saving and rescuing people really isn't part of responsible boating.
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Cypress
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Those fisherman deserve the same pay+ as Coast Guardsmen, as well as compensation for fuel, and any damage to their boat. If injured their medical
bills should be paid. Their families should receive benefits if they don't make it back.
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JZ
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The story doesn't add up. You're telling me the conditions were such that a 15ft panga could navigate, but a 41ft sail boat couldn't. I do believe
that.
Plus, those don't sound like conditions to issue a Pan. It's crazy to thing if the fact were true a Mayday call wouldn't go out. You aren't shooting
flares over a Pan.
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oxxo
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Hitting an uncharted rock reminds me of the story of the Nordhavn 62 that hit an "uncharted" rock about a year ago and a fellow from La Paz was killed
in the accident. The Nordhavn went aground on one of the barrier islands at the entrance to Mag Bay. They were 2 miles offshore when they hit the
rock. I passed by this area last November in my boat, just like the people in the sailboat. I was barely able to see with the binoculars the hulk of
the 62 still on the "beach."
I suspect that the people in the sailboat were much closer than 5 miles offshore. The charts clearly state that this whole area should be given a
wide berth. The rocks are not specifically charted, but they are shown in the general area. These people were clearly inexperienced and the boat
was not properly prepared. Bravo for the Mexicans!
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Cypress
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Sorry that they lost their boat and belongings. Glad they were rescued.  Sometimes things just go wrong, a bad decision, mechanical problems, weather
conditions can all combine to cause grief.
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Crusoe
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There are so many holes in this story it makes a person almost "Sea Sick".Its just like a big block of swiss cheese. Rule #1----common sense dictates
that before you go to sea-you learn how to swim.Not all that tough.Hundreds of small pleasure craft transit the west coast of Baja each year. Hence--
The Prudent Mariner. The newspaper story is from a landlubber from Billings, Montana, written for the shock and awe effect of other landlubbers and
cattle folk. The west cost of Baja can be very tough sailing and has been the end to alot of vessels over the years.Expierience starts when you
begin!! Its easy to be an armchair sailor,and crtique what happened after the fact. Bottom line is there are just to many sailing magazines and yacht
brokers espouseing the" Good Life" and how easy it is to sign up for a course and your off. Nothing to it.Next time they will probably head off shore
if they get caught in that same scenario. As for the fisherman, they need to be compensated each one a few hundred dollars for sticking their neccks
out and getting invoved in some strangers bad judgement call. Any one of those guys coud of suffered a busted arm or hand injury.
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Barry A.
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I thought it was a pretty good story-----
------and it sounds to me, if you read the article carefully, that they had made excellent preparations for this trip. In hindsight they made some
mistakes (not heading out to deep water), but I can understand why they did what they did, under the reported circumstances. They apparently waited
too long to shorten sail (or take it down completely) and thereby lost the sail-----somewhere along the line they lost their engine, presumably when
they were very near shore heading for the anchorage they saw on the chart, and then they realized they were in trouble and put out the "pan"
signal-----(at the time they were not "going down", and probably thought they just needed a tow)------then they drifted over the surmerged rock and
apparently busted the hull (???). They were very near shore at the time and the "Mexican Navy" has said they were only 10 min. away-----no reason for
a "May-Day". The woman said that she could barely swim WHEN THEY FIRST STARTED SAILING IN THE PUGET SOUND. She did not say she could not swim at the
time of the accident. She was just scared to death, and afraid to jump in the water. These folks were just very unlucky, it seems to me. (Freak
storm)
As for the Mexican's, they were stellar, and in typical form, and I concur that they should be rewarded for their actions even tho they would never
expect that.
All the neat things that happened to the couple on their way home just confirms that basically people, both Mexicans and Norte Americanos, are good
hearted folks, and it was a heart warming story, to me.
So, we all don't see things the same way, do we.
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Skeet/Loreto
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JZ
Yes the Panga can take the waters better than a Sailboat!
The Panga was designed and built to bring 2,000 Lbs. of fish through the Pacific Surf. It has been doing that for many years.
Skeet/Loreto
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oxxo
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| Quote: | Originally posted by Barry A.
and then they realized they were in trouble and put out the "pan" signal-----(at the time they were not "going down", and probably thought they just
needed a tow |
I just attended a seminar on this subject. A "pan" call means that you are experiencing problems but there is no emergency yet and you do not require
assistance yet. It is merely a "heads up" to anyone in the area to stand by. A "mayday" call means that there is an emergency (you are drifting onto
rocks) and you need immediate assistance (like a tow).
If I were to receive a "pan" call it is prudent for me to stay on course but continue to monitor the situation with the other boat through periodic
radio calls. If I receive a "mayday" call I change course immediately and proceed to the endangered vessel to render assistance at the greatest speed
that is prudent.
If I am in a powerboat and my engine quits but I am 50 miles out at sea in calm weather, I would issue a "pan" call to say that I was experiencing
engine difficulties and trying to make repairs at sea but there is no danger at this time. If I am in a powerboat and the engine quit two weeks ago
and I ran out of food a week ago and I just finished my last Corona or I was drifting onto some rocks, I would issue a "mayday" call.
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Hook
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"...I just finished my last Corona or I was drifting onto some rocks, I would issue a "mayday" call.
OXXO, you got your priorities straight!
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Don Alley
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| Quote: | Originally posted by Crusoe
...The newspaper story is from a landlubber from Billings, Montana, written for the shock and awe effect of other landlubbers and cattle folk...
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Cattle folk!
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