BajaNomad - Billings couple loses sailboat off coast of Baja

Billings couple loses sailboat off coast of Baja

BajaNews - 2-15-2007 at 06:47 AM

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.

Bruce R Leech - 2-15-2007 at 07:38 AM

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.

Dave - 2-15-2007 at 07:53 AM

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. :rolleyes:

Skeet/Loreto - 2-15-2007 at 08:00 AM

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

ArvadaGeorge - 2-15-2007 at 08:23 AM

You have to admire the courage and skill of the Mexican Fisher men.

shari - 2-15-2007 at 08:32 AM

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.

tripledigitken - 2-15-2007 at 09:15 AM

Does anyone know the village the fishermen were from?

Don Alley - 2-15-2007 at 09:23 AM

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.

OffShore

MrBillM - 2-15-2007 at 10:04 AM

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.

wilderone - 2-15-2007 at 10:19 AM

this story underscores why Escalera Nautica won't work. And saving and rescuing people really isn't part of responsible boating.

Cypress - 2-15-2007 at 10:56 AM

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.

JZ - 2-15-2007 at 11:45 AM

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.

oxxo - 2-15-2007 at 11:47 AM

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!

Cypress - 2-15-2007 at 12:02 PM

Sorry that they lost their boat and belongings.

Glad they were rescued. :bounce:

Sometimes things just go wrong, a bad decision, mechanical problems, weather conditions can all combine to cause grief. :no:

Crusoe - 2-15-2007 at 12:18 PM

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. :no:

I thought it was a pretty good story-----

Barry A. - 2-15-2007 at 01:43 PM

------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.

Skeet/Loreto - 2-15-2007 at 04:13 PM

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

oxxo - 2-15-2007 at 04:39 PM

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.

Hook - 2-15-2007 at 06:30 PM

"...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! :spingrin:

Don Alley - 2-15-2007 at 06:51 PM

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...

Cattle folk!
:lol:

Good question!!

Tomas Tierra - 2-15-2007 at 10:51 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by tripledigitken
Does anyone know the village the fishermen were from?

Anybody??
It couldn't have been to far south if Adella gave the couple a ride to Ensenada....

JZ - 2-15-2007 at 11:11 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Barry A.
I thought it was a pretty good story-----
no reason for a "May-Day".
So, we all don't see things the same way, do we.

Barry, no we don't!

Let's see:
- the engine was gone
- the mast was down
- they were drifting towards the rocks
- the sea anchor wasn't holding
- waves were 20 feet
- they thought they were going to die
- they were shooting off flares

A pan would not be used in those conditions.

[Edited on 2-16-2007 by JZ]

Tomas Tierra - 2-15-2007 at 11:21 PM

I read that just the mainsail was down/busted not the mast. It was sticking out of the water in the middle of the bay...

Who is listening for a mayday or pan pan halfway down Baja??

Oxxo------

Barry A. - 2-15-2007 at 11:46 PM

-----good point on the distress calls-----I stand corrected. :tumble:

oxxo - 2-16-2007 at 07:49 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by Tomas TierraWho is listening for a mayday or pan pan halfway down Baja??

When cruising there, I do. There are lots of boats cruising up and down the coast at any time of year. Most of them should be monitoring channel 16.

oxxo - 2-16-2007 at 08:28 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by Barry A.
-----good point on the distress calls-----I stand corrected.

No Barry, I stand corrected. I just reviewed my notes for proper distress calls.

Securite = experiencing problems, no assistance required
Pan Pan = experiencing problems, assistance required
Mayday = life threatening problems, immediate assistance required

Therefore if the folks in question just needed a tow because they were drifting toward shore, they would issue a Pan call.

If they were almost on the rocks, they would issue a Mayday call.

It all depends on when they made that distress call. There just isn't enough information in the article.

I will say that it would be difficult to give anyone a tow in 15 to 20 seas and high winds. I know I would not be able to do it with my boat without endangering the safety of the boat and crew. I certainly would not be able to launch my dinghy in those conditions. I probably would have put one of my crew in a harness with rope tether and PFD and have them swim over to the stricken vessel to take these folks off one at a time over water. But I'm not sure that is the prudent thing to do. What would you folks do?

JZ - 2-16-2007 at 08:54 AM

Do guys have any idea how big 15 foot waves are. I wouldn't take a panga out in 5 foot waves.

oxxo - 2-16-2007 at 10:10 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by JZ
Do guys have any idea how big 15 foot waves are. I wouldn't take a panga out in 5 foot waves.

I wouldn't either! That's what makes the actions of the Mexican fishermen that much more heroic! In that situation, they were better men than I.

JZ----

Barry A. - 2-16-2007 at 10:13 AM

Do you think they meant "15 foot waves" (breaking waves?), or do they actually mean a "15 foot swell" (trough to crest is 15 feet)? I have had my Gregor 14 foot tin boat out in 15 foot swells with a high pucker factor but it certainly is doable.

15 foot breaking waves would be impossible tho------with that I certainly agree------I would not even surf 15 foot waves, but I am a coward.

Thanks Oxxo for the clarification-------bottom line it was a horrible experience for them, and I can just barely understand their fear at the time.

BajaBruno - 2-16-2007 at 10:21 AM

Sailing looks easy when you are sitting in a fancy lounge on San Diego's waterfront, and sailing down the coast of the California's seems romantic when you are cozy next to the fireplace in your land home, but neither are true, unfortunately. There is no three-week (or whatever) sailing school that will prepare you for even most of the eventuallities of sailing down the coast of the Californias, especially in winter.

The minimum crew for that trip, having made it several times, is three experienced seapersons, each competent enough to get the boat to a good harbor from wherever the worst location could be. You also need someone who knows boats--rigging, sail repair, heavy weather boat handling, engine maintenance and repair, how to get up a mast and repair a broken halyard so you can get that mainsail back up---all that seems to be lacking on this ill-advised trip down the coast.

It is a pity that egos and starry-eyed ambition color the way we look at very complex tasks such as sailing a modern boat down a potentially very dangerous coast. Buddha knows, I have known a couple of guys who have gotten lucky--taken inadequate boats with inadequate skills and gotten farther than they should have, but they simply got lucky, that's all. These unfortunate folks proved the odds and fortunately had some brave and available pangueros to rescue them.

Wave heights, as JZ and others know, is one of the few factors in sailing to be overestimated by the inexperienced sailor. I wasn't there, so I don't know for sure, but 15' waves would have to be produced by a very big and long-lasting storm (remember the factors of wave height: wind velocity, duration, fetch, and water depth), not an isolated cell off the shore.

I'm happy no lives were lost, since it would have been harder to have this discussion under those circumstances, but I think there are certainly lessons to be learned. Although "gentlemen don't go to weather," as the old saying goes, good sailors are experienced and prepared sailors, and may be gods be with them all.

Mayday

MrBillM - 2-16-2007 at 10:29 AM

Although the "Mayday" call has come to include danger to person ( officially or unofficially? ), back when I was involved with teaching Boating Classes with the U.S.C.G. Auxiliary, we stressed that the "Mayday" was reserved for danger to the vessel itself and not health issues unrelated to grave and imminent danger to the vessel ( or station as the FCC puts it ).

If someone on board has a Heart Attack or is Bleeding to Death on a vessel sailing along comfortably on calm seas, it was not a "Mayday" situation.

On FCC.gov, they still list the definition that way. I have no idea whether International law has actually changed, but I've never heard so.

"(1) MAYDAY -- The distress signal MAYDAY is used to indicate that a station is threatened by grave and imminent danger and requests immediate assistance

(2) PAN PAN -- The urgency signal PAN PAN is used when the safety of the ship or person is in jeopardy.

(3) SECURITE -- The safety signal SECURITE is used for messages about the safety of navigation or important weather warnings. "
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Of course, in the current discussion, the vessel was in grave and imminent danger so the life consideration was the secondary one.

[Edited on 2-16-2007 by MrBillM]

Dave - 2-16-2007 at 01:05 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by MrBillM
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.

The entire west coast of Baja is a lee shore. 100+ miles would be more like it. From out there it's a wild ride but fantastic. More fun than just about anything you can do... standing up.

bajajudy - 2-16-2007 at 01:25 PM

I, too, have made that trip. It was a rough one. We had a following sea that knocked the stern of the boat around so much almost everyone on the boat got a little seasick. It was such a weird motion. I fortunately do not suffer from that ailment. Unfortunately, I was on watch for double shifts because someone was too sick to pull his watch.
:barf:

A lady in Ensenada(that is where we left from) had made us killer tamales. I certainly enjoyed them...no one else did :lol:

You have to have a healthy respect for mother ocean and all that she can throw at you and I cringe when I hear stories like this one.

We met a couple who were camping in a car. When we asked why the car, they replied that they had started out from San Diego headed to San Lucas on a 32' sailboat and got so scared around Bahia Tortuga that they pulled in there, rested up and went back home. They had decided that seeing Baja by car was a much better idea

[Edited on 2-16-2007 by bajajudy]

Rough Seas

MrBillM - 2-16-2007 at 02:04 PM

An avid Fishing buddy of mine and his wife took one of those Long-Range Fishing trips out of San Diego that goes out to the Islands off the tip.

On the return trip, an option was to leave the boat at Cabo and Fly home. They couldn't wait to get off that boat.

As bad as the trip South can be, the Slog North is Notorious.

[Edited on 2-16-2007 by MrBillM]

Cypress - 2-16-2007 at 02:32 PM

BajaBruno, :tumble:

Pretty much sums up my feelings also.

jeans - 2-16-2007 at 10:29 PM

They were very, very lucky.

In the fall of '78 or '79 I was in Wyoming and had a repair call in the small town of Wilson. (I was with Mtn. Bell) In the driveway was a large catamaran on a trailer. It was one of those brilliant, crisp autumn days. It was still warm, but as the sun sank behind the Tetons, the fall chill and impending winter was in the air. The man with the catamaran was leaving for Baja in a few weeks...he was so excited about his trip...getting out of the Wyoming winter to sail the warm, Mexican waters. I envied him.

A few months later there was an article in the local paper. Wreckage of his boat had been found, but his body was never recovered.

Yes...the people from Billings were very lucky...

Crusoe - 2-18-2007 at 02:23 PM

Hi Jeans,

Good post! I too lived in Wilson, WY in those years and knew that couple very well. They were nice people and well thought of. Their craft was an 18' Hobie-Cat. They launched in San Fillieppe in December. They sailed south and were never heard from again. The wreakage of their boat was found. Some small plane pilots from Jackson flew their own planes to the area and conducted an extensive search as did other Mexican agencies, but found noone. Two to three months later, the girl's body was found on the North end of Carmen Island. She was identified by a prescription bottle with her name on it in one of her clothing pockets. Her next-of-kin were notified in Los Angeles - very tragic!

Another point of this post was to comment on Dennis and Leslie's (from Billings) experience. Again very trajic.So Sorry.This brings up another old similar Montana peoples'sailing history. An enthusiastic couple spent eight years in Washington State building a 35' cruising boat and ended up very soon shipwrecked on that long beach just South of Magdelena Bay near Loma Mira. Barely getting through the surf and rescued with their lives intact. Back to Montana they go for two years, come back to Puget Sound, buy another 35' cruising boat and go North and end up shipwrecked again on the West Coast of Vancouver Island. They come close to losing their lives and are rescued again by fishermen. Yikes you think they would have had theur fill of it. So the cattle folk head back to Montana and lick their wounds and come back to Puget Sound in a couple years, purchase yet another 35' cruising boat, go North, and while anchored near Hawksberry Island in Northern British Columbia, they drag ashore in a storm and yet lose another vessel! Sad, sad, sad. They are able to laugh about it and make jokes.I really have to admire them......People will always amaze you. Especially the sailing crowd and adventuress type......Poop Happens!!

Cypress - 2-18-2007 at 02:47 PM

JZ! 15 foot waves.

Agree.

Wouldn't want to be in a 15' boat in anything close to those conditions.

There's something not quite right about this story.

jeans - 2-18-2007 at 03:17 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Crusoe
Hi Jeans,

Good post! I too lived in Wilson, WY in those years and knew that couple very well. They were nice people and well thought of. Their craft was an 18' Hobie-Cat. They launched in San Fillieppe in December. They sailed south and were never heard from again. The wreakage of their boat was found. Some small plane pilots from Jackson flew their own planes to the area and conducted an extensive search as did other Mexican agencies, but found noone. Two to three months later, the girl's body was found on the North end of Carmen Island. She was identified by a prescription bottle with her name on it in one of her clothing pockets. Her next-of-kin were notified in Los Angeles - very tragic!

Another point of this post was to comment on Dennis and Leslie's (from Billings) experience. Again very trajic.So Sorry.This brings up another old similar Montana peoples'sailing history. An enthusiastic couple spent eight years in Washington State building a 35' cruising boat and ended up very soon shipwrecked on that long beach just South of Magdelena Bay near Loma Mira. Barely getting through the surf and rescued with their lives intact. Back to Montana they go for two years, come back to Puget Sound, buy another 35' cruising boat and go North and end up shipwrecked again on the West Coast of Vancouver Island. They come close to losing their lives and are rescued again by fishermen. Yikes you think they would have had theur fill of it. So the cattle folk head back to Montana and lick their wounds and come back to Puget Sound in a couple years, purchase yet another 35' cruising boat, go North, and while anchored near Hawksberry Island in Northern British Columbia, they drag ashore in a storm and yet lose another vessel! Sad, sad, sad. They are able to laugh about it and make jokes.I really have to admire them......People will always amaze you. Especially the sailing crowd and adventuress type......Poop Happens!!

Ah...memory fades after almost 30 years....18' is not very large! I had thought he was alone (his name was Judd, right?). I guess she was not home the afternoon I was sent there. I do remember understading his exitement. My parents were "before the pavement" Baja travelers and we had boats (childhood summers at Catalina).

Small world with Jackson & Baja...Mom met some people from Jackson camped on a beach somewhere...got to talking...I had installed a phone for them.

[Edited on 2-18-2007 by jeans]

JZ - 2-18-2007 at 04:52 PM

I once made the mistake of taking my boat down from San Felipe to Santa Rosalia in December, not having a clue what I was doing. Had the common sense to not try to take it back up.

Came back a year later with a lot better plan, better gear, and a better time to the year. Made it from San Felipe to San Carlos, Sonora.

bajamigo - 2-18-2007 at 07:24 PM

I'm amazed at the squadron of Good Samaritans who seemed to appear at every turn. Talk about good karma..........