BajaNomad - Sailboat rescue off Baja

Sailboat rescue off Baja

thebajarunner - 4-19-2007 at 09:39 PM

CBS Radio is reporting tonite (Thurs) that the Coast Guard picked up two people off the coast of Baja.
The woman was still on board, the guy, mid-50's, had been swept overboard and was located 10-15 miles away from the boat.
That was all the news at the moment,
sure would like to hear the rest of this story.

(with or without pirates)

Tomas Tierra - 4-20-2007 at 11:23 AM

if the weather down there has been anything like the weather around the Santa Barbara Channel has been, they are lucky to have survived!

Absolutely horrific conditions for boating the last month or so. Can a brother get a glassy day over here??
Today; heavy rain and winds gusting25 from the NW :barf:

found the guy 10 to 15 miles from the boat?? talk about needle in a haystack!

Crusoe - 4-21-2007 at 08:58 AM

Has anyone heard of any more reports on this incident? The man was extreemly lucky to have been rescued. He must have been wearing some sort of locator beacon life vest. You really have to hand it to the Coasties rescue ability. Our tax $ at work doing something wonderful.

along those lines...this Ghost Ship

Pompano - 4-21-2007 at 09:08 AM

A 13 meter catamaran was found adrift near the coast of Australia..with nobody aboard. The table was set with food, the radios and gps still, a computer running...and not a soul aboard. The was no sign of broken gear or any misphap. A search by helicopter and vessels found not a sign of the 3 people known to have been on the boat.

Lots of mysterys out there on the bluewater.

Aussie Escape.

MrBillM - 4-22-2007 at 09:02 AM

One person theorized that they may have gone for a swim and the boat left. It seems unlikely, but it has happened. on more than one occasion in the past, we went swimming off the boat when the wind and seas were calm. However, in those cases, I dropped the jib and trailed a poly line from the stern. The fact that their main was sheeted in and the jib leech was tattered. This is one of those odd mysteries that may never be solved.

bacquito - 4-29-2007 at 05:06 PM

One person theorized that they may have gone for a swim and the boat left

I recently saw a picture of come vacationers who were on a yacht in Mexico and all went for a swim except for a very small child who remained on board. The vacationers forgot to leave a means to get back on board. Everybody died except for the child and the mother who managed to get back onboard. The event was reported to have actually happened

woody with a view - 4-29-2007 at 05:13 PM

Quote:

I recently saw a picture of come vacationers who were on a yacht in Mexico and all went for a swim except for a very small child who remained on board. The vacationers forgot to leave a means to get back on board. Everybody died except for the child and the mother who managed to get back onboard.

Darwinism at its finest!!!

BajaBruno - 4-30-2007 at 03:39 AM

I finally found a Coast Guard press release on this one.

http://www.uscgsandiego.com/go/doc/823/154561/

U.S. Coast Guard Rescues Man And Wife Off Coast Of Mexico

ALAMEDA, Calif. -- A 54-year-old man and his wife were rescued off of the coast of Mexico Wednesday evening by the U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Sherman and Coast Guard air assets.
At approximately 5:54 p.m. Wednesday the Cutter Sherman received a mayday call from a woman stating that her sailing vessel had lost steering control and that her husband had fallen overboard in the 10 foot seas. The woman stated she had thrown a liferaft into the water after she was unable to spot him.

The Sherman launched an HH-65 Dolphin helicopter that was onboard the cutter, and a C-130 aircraft from Coast Guard Air Station Sacramento was launched to assist in the search.

The Sherman located and rescued the woman from the sailing vessel quickly,

At approximately 10:55 p.m. the HH-65 crew spotted the strobe light from the life raft.

The man had been able to locate the deployed raft and climb into it until he was rescued by the Sherman, approximately 10-15 miles from his original location.

The woman was able to help save her husband because they had the proper equipment onboard (radios, flotation devices, signaling devices), and she able to remain calm and accurately relay her position to the Coast Guard.

Infrared video from the C-130 is available upon request.

Crusoe - 4-30-2007 at 07:09 AM

Thanks Bruno.........The old boyscout motto really rings true here......"Nothing Like Being Prepared".. They were very, very lucky. Crap happens fast at sea when things break on small yachts. :wow:

Semper Paratus

MrBillM - 4-30-2007 at 09:21 AM

Many years back, I read an article by William F. Buckley Jr. regarding a sailing trip he took with others in the Caribbean and Bahamas. During the sail, encountering rough seas and windy conditions, they had a man go overboard. Although the vessel had a swim step, they struggled for hours, without success, trying to get the person back on board. He ended up dying.

Again, a few years back, I read an Editor's article in Cruising World describing the disappearance (and assumed Death) of a contributing editor to the Magazine. The gentleman was a Physician who was the consumate sailor and both wrote articles and taught classes on Boating Safety and Medicine at the major Boat Shows. He was taking his new boat up to Maryland for the show and (apparently) during his night watch alone on deck in light winds and seas went forward to adjust a line without attaching the safety harness he was wearing to the Jackline.

He was never seen again.

Like Chuck Berry said "It only goes to show you never can tell".

Offshore Sailing and Flying are two sports wherein "small" mistakes may easily be your last.

Sharksbaja - 4-30-2007 at 01:10 PM

"Many years back, I read an article by William F. Buckley Jr. regarding a sailing trip he took with others in the Caribbean and Bahamas. During the sail, encountering rough seas and windy conditions, they had a man go overboard. Although the vessel had a swim step, they struggled for hours, without success, trying to get the person back on board. He ended up dying."

I'll bet that person was way overweight. I can't think of any other reason two people could not pull in a person off a dive step. :?:

The sailor in this story was lucky the raft was within reach.

DENNIS - 4-30-2007 at 01:32 PM

Yeah Sharky, he may have been overweight. More likely, he was wearing lots of clothing which made him really heavy.
Jeezo... What a trauma for the survivors, to have your buddy slip from your grasp to death.

Holy COW!

Sharksbaja - 4-30-2007 at 02:52 PM

After looking at Hooks' post and that big wet guy I can understand why it would be hard to pull a walrus aboard.

Hey at least it floats well! Reminds me of a recent true story here in Oregon. A guy bout that size was takng a leak off the stern and fell overboard. He managed to hang on some crab trap floats nearby till his rescue in the 52 degree water. 3 HOURS LATER!!

Skinny guy woulda croaked. Hmmmmmm :lol:

BajaBruno - 4-30-2007 at 03:22 PM

Shark, I once heard a very suspect statistic that some very high percentage of fatal drownings off of boats had their fly down! Maybe it is true! Not funny, but I can't help it. :tumble:

Going Overboard

MrBillM - 4-30-2007 at 04:25 PM

Over the years there have been numerous articles in the various Sailing Magazines regarding the difficulty of bringing back on board someone who has gone into the water and is unable to assist in their own rescue. I remember watching a Video at the L.A. Boat Show dramatizing the difficulty. Of course, the Video was promoting the "Life-Sling" product to facilitate bringing someone onboard.

Speaking of Human Whales, we were sitting in the c-ckpit of our Sailboat one Winter morning in San Diego at the downtown moorings and we noticed a Harbor Police boat heading in our direction at high-speed. We then noticed a BIG WHITE shape floating in the water. It turned out to be another (overweight) partially-clothed resident of the mooring who had fallen off of his boat and couldn't get back on board. He attempted to swim to the dock, but quickly lost energy. The Police boat personnel attempted to haul him aboard the swim platform with no success. Another Police boat showed up with a swimmer and surfboard and they tried again with no success. They finally strapped him to the bow of the board with the swimmer holding him and towed the whole thing to the dock. There, with the assistance of even more people, they finally hauled him onto the dock. By the time they got him to his feet and up to the waiting ambulance, he decided he didn't need any help and walked off. Not knowing how long he had been in that cold water prior to our noticing, the rescue that we watched took at least 20-30 minutes.

It made for a good show.

The "Open Fly" statistic was cited often by the USCG Aux in their Boating Safety Classes as a common occurrence, especially among Fishermen on small boats during the Winter.

Crusoe - 4-30-2007 at 06:49 PM

Going Overboard When You Least Expect It...........In July of 1974 I was tied up to a public dock in Gig Harbor, Wa.. and had spoken with a nice man tied up in front of me on an older small nice wood power cruiser. He looked ok, and in ok shape. He was by himself. In the morning some fisherman found him floating face down. He died from drowning. He had fallen off his boat while taking a leak and was unable to even pull himself up and onto the dock!!!!!!!Happened they thought late at night and we heard absolutley nothing of it. Also........in 2001 while camped at Los Frailles on East Cape.......Some folks on a 40' Cutter from San Diego had come into the bay for the evening and had left at 5am. and had weighed anchor on a early January morning and a male, of 40 yo while hoisting up the rode went overboard. Never to be seen again. The Mexican Navy as well of lots of other efforts looked for his body for months. Never any sign. Again....One false slip...

Sure about that?

Dave - 5-1-2007 at 07:29 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by MrBillM
Many years back, I read an article by William F. Buckley Jr. regarding a sailing trip he took with others in the Caribbean and Bahamas. During the sail, encountering rough seas and windy conditions, they had a man go overboard. Although the vessel had a swim step, they struggled for hours, without success, trying to get the person back on board. He ended up dying.

I find that difficult to believe. First, I would expect Buckley to have a well found boat and experienced crew. And I would think that an improvised harness with block and tackle off the boom could haul up anything.

bacquito - 5-2-2007 at 09:23 AM

I was working on a Tuna boat(purse seiner) in the Western Pacific many years ago and we had just finished a set and were in the process of loading the net back on the boat. I was at the stern end of the boat when one of the crew accidentally knocked me overboard. The boat was 200 feet long and weighed about 1000 tons so it kept on going. It was mighty lonely floating in the Western Pacific with remains of the set floating around me and worrying about sharks and other critters. It took about 1/2 hr. to rescue me. Fortunately, the event occurred during the day!! :cool:

Doubting Dave

MrBillM - 5-2-2007 at 03:13 PM

My aging memory has obscured the details of the "Man Overboard" event chronicled by William F. Buckley in a sailing article many years back.

In trying to assuage the Doubting Dave, I encountered the common problem of defining the search parameters when searching the web. Of course, it is possible that it isn't there to find since I am reminded that less than one percent of archived data in the United States is posted to the web.

However, I did find one passing reference to such a loss of life incident in an old Book Review of "Airborne" by Buckley:

"Airborne" takes the form of a journal and ship's log with especially enjoyable additions by Christopher Buckley and Daniel Merritt, their lyrical friend. The slack moments are taken up with anecdotes and flashbacks illustrating some of the terrible things that have happened to Buckley during his 40-year sailing career. And they do cause one to wince. "Someone who has been sailing for 40 years," said my bluewater sailing friend, "should not be involved in two major insurance losses, a substantial lawsuit by the family of a man lost overboard during a charter, and a suit against a yard-owner." But what I liked so very much about this book is Buckley's love and enthusiasm for his son, his friends and political enemies, for the wind, the sea and the stars, the boat, indeed, for life itself. And what finer tribute can any father receive that Christopher's final entry in the log: "Pup, if you were to set sail tomorrow to cross another ocean, I'd sell my soul to ship out with you. Any day."

The Search Continues.

Crusoe - 5-4-2007 at 05:55 PM

Testing 123

Bruce R Leech - 5-4-2007 at 06:58 PM

I sure want to go boating withe these folks.

one is to dumb to ware a life line and the other doesnt know how to turn the boat around and go back for the hubby.

maybe she through him over and took off. that would make more sense.

I think the coast Gard should bill them for every Penny. :bounce: