Family Rescued off California Coast

[Uncle Buck]

Well I can't comment in regards to this particular situation, but I was aboard my boat in Richardson Bay for the duration of the blow mentioned. Here it was 30-40 knots (sustained), and I monitored 16 and watched the coasties and the salvage tugs responding to over a dozen boats anchored out. It was certainly a nasty night, but without exception all of the boats that I saw wrecked or towed in were not fit to sail out into the slot in SF Bay on any given day in the summer....one can draw one's own conclusions from that.

Some of these boats were towed in at the peak of the storm just prior to midnight - not the next morning after it was over.

[Therapy]

Originally Posted by EvanStolze

Well I can't comment in regards to this particular situation, but I was aboard my boat in Richardson Bay for the duration of the blow mentioned. Here it was 30-40 knots (sustained), and I monitored 16 and watched the coasties and the salvage tugs responding to over a dozen boats anchored out. It was certainly a nasty night, but without exception all of the boats that I saw wrecked or towed in were not fit to sail out into the slot in SF Bay on any given day in the summer....one can draw one's own conclusions from that.

Some of these boats were towed in at the peak of the storm just prior to midnight - not the next morning after it was over.

At anchor?

What kind?

[Uncle Buck]

Originally Posted by Therapy

At anchor?

What kind?

What kind of what?

[bangkaboat]

The thing I noticed in the video - after reading some of the posts - was that the man & woman on the boat were soaking wet. Unless they'd just come out of the shower when SAR arrived...

[Therapy]

Originally Posted by EvanStolze

What kind of what?

What kind of anchor.

What kind of bottom.

[zeehag]

lol sf bay is mostly mud. ia kali...lol we havent much other than mud to anchor in. but ther eisnt much as far as aeas to anchor in. at sea-- deeeep water. if the boat is as crappy as ye all say-- then is no doubt it broke away in a stoem. especially if the folks ae wet.lol

anchor outs are killed every storm. lol 'is sf.
same with lost angeles. wet from storm.. these folks in other parts of world have absolutely no clue what we have to endure as far as storms here. watch the ktla clip--lol it even made facebookLOL.. the whole world except cf knows there was a KILLER STORM IN La..LOL--and i thought we were SAILORS ....LOL

[Uncle Buck]

Originally Posted by Therapy

What kind of anchor.

What kind of bottom.

Bruce fan myself, but in this case I was in my slip. Had I been anchored out I would have left RB before the weather hit and moved to a better anchorage - it was forecast well in advance so there was plenty of time to go elsewhere (again, likely not possible for most of the boats out there...). RB is exposed to a SE'er with a long enough fetch to cause concern if it blows hard enough. No reason to be there with better anchorages close by.

[rgscpat]

A lot of bad things happened to a lot of California boats with this weekend's blow.

This specific incident happened off Santa Barbara. The Coast Guard's bulletin can be found at:

Coast Guard rescues family of four and their dog from a sailboat in Santa Barbara Harbor | Coast Guard News

The open roadstead off Santa Barbara seems to have a reputation for claiming boats every winter and spring. If the boat and crew are not well prepared, sailing off the anchor in heavy weather near a lee shore just may not be an option. And if the crew saw another boat break away and wash onto the shore, they may have expected to be next. For a family with young children and perhaps limited experience, I can imagine an overnight storm in relatively shallow water would be a harrowing experience.

Better to call the Coasties and spend taxpayer dollars giving them some more training than risk lives... and yes, it would be better yet for boaters to be trained and prepared but you know how the real world is.

[JRM]

It was a boat from Fools Anchorage off of Santa Barbara. It's SB in the background, and that's a SB Harbor Patrol boat. They had another one today in Ventura County that I heard get dispatched an entire water rescue response for "partially submerged vessel." Every good storm seems to land (pardon the pun) somewhere around a half dozen on East Beach. Most end up getting broken up and thrown away at taxpayer expense (sure the city tries to do cost recovery, but they never succeed). A few have washed up in Oxnard, where they're our problem.

These folks aren't cruisers, and they certainly aren't sailors. They're just using the hull as a trailer and the anchorage as a trailer park. Unfortunately the trailer they picked was capable breaking free and sinking with their six month old in it.

I had a lot else to say, but I deleted it, because in the end it was worthless...

JRM

[zeehag]

jrm--thankyou for confirming there was a storm. seems to be an unpopular thought in these parts.
SIDWE FROM Bd boats, many GOOD boats LSO BREAK FREE-AT NO FAULT OF OWNER. ask perry if his lafitte 44 is a decent boat. we had one of those break free due to cleat failure port and stbd both at same storm.
mariner 40 in perfect shape-- broke free due to mooring co line breaking--SNAPPED --is nylon double braid. there were around 30 failures of this line this storm. in sta barbara ther are folks in fools anchrage WHO ACTUALLY ENJOY IT AND HAVE DECENT BOATS.
there were same phenomena in sd in th free anchorage., wow. folks who prefer to anchor despite having money!!!!! OMG!!!!!! granted there qwerent many. but ther ewere physicians and lpawywers out there. not the teak wannabes-- oh yes they were all over that place-- but there are honest and good folks who were ,and still are , badgered and blackballed from marinas because of having lived in sd' anchorage 8.
i amnot saying all folks in anchorages are good or bad. that is stereotyping and does not work .
we have ferocious storms here. ALWAYS HAVE. that isnt gonna stop. boats wil brak loose --doesnt matter if they are good or bad boats-- they break loose equallyand just the same. sdmc, our mooring co is using double braid nylon for mooring lines. these are snapping, allowing many to breakaway in storms. this is no fault of the boat owner. we had a lafitte 44, bob perry design, lose both bow cleats and fly across this bay into barrio logan. oh yes--i received 5 phone calls from uscg-- they could not find the boat that flew across the Bay. nor could they find the mariner. they could not find the lafitte this morning , either--i was called 2 times today for it....funny--i gave exact locale.
we had a mariner 40--beautiful boat--before the breakaway-- shoot past one b oat(my ericson) ram another boat-an ericson 30 , take that boats anchor and fly into the mud flats next o some nasty rocks. that was no fault of the owner--his doubled lines snapped in th e storm--h euses one inch line.; double braid nylon, provided by mooring company. lol both broke--SNAPPED and boat flew in 40+kt winds. so donot believe only derelict boats breakaway.

the lafitte is owned by a couple--he is an architect and she is a uscg licensed captain running charters on sd bay. i think these folks who live on board in a mooring--OMG-- would not appreciate being considered derelicts.

[ozskipper]

Originally Posted by zeehag

it WAS a storm situation that broke them loose. sorry. we got the storm after they did--yes i know it was a storm we lived thru it already. the winds in the storm were 40 + sustained knots. yes is a storm. they broke loose from a marina and were swept to sea. think about it-- the vid was taken AFTER the storm-- the rescue was AFTER the storm. we were experiencing this storm while this family was being rescued. lol' was a storm. yes.

please keep bashing uscg--they need it.

OK. I stand berated as deserved.

I will continue to bash the coast guard as requested. lol

" Who names thier boat Coast Guard anyway" . Joey from Friends

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sZzPSULzZB0

[sailorboy1]

I'm glad everyone is safe.

I'm very impressed with the ability of the trailer to have floated so well and long. In most of the videos of trailers floating away in a storm the trailers don't appear to be as water tight. So good job to the owners in making their trailer water tight in prep to survive its' floating away!

[Seahunter]

For the record: The wind that day was a steady 25k out of the SE (very nasty weather for this area as most of the safe anchorages become exposed) for most of the day with gusts 30-50k depending on the cell structure. The video was taken after the sailboat was towed behind the breakwater. The wave structure was in fact 6-10' on 10-13 sec; making for a very bumpy ride. This was not the only boat to break moorings that day, however it was the only one with people on board. I make no excuses for the condition of these poor folks boat but I find it interesting how judgmental "experienced" boaters can be; after all never was a mistake made by them.

[SaltyMonkey]

1) There were a TON of boats that broke away from that recent storm and surge. A lot of wrecks.

2) This boat looks great! I love it! Nothing new or shiny to replace! It even has a sail! I would have sailed it in that silly chop anytime! Wow...why abandon a perfectly configured boat like that??? Just hand over the baby for a few beers and you'll be fine.

[zeehag]

seahunter and smb--THANKYOU so much--is difficult to live thru a mayhem and b eadvised thatyou didnt so do--lol--i was beginning to wonder if i imagined the breakaway of a perfectly good lafitte and a perfectly good mariner down here in sin diego-- we got 40 kts sustained and gusts pegging anemometers. i was awake entire night trying to save folks's perfectly good perfect sailboats as thy sailed off with no one at the helm. live aboards ae who saves the boats and yachts of the neglectful who refuse to spend a night in a boat in a storm. i am a responsible sailor. i was well taught.
btw-- we SAVED the uscg hundreds of thousands of dollars as this storm unfurled on us. rofl. there are many kinds of folks. all being junked into one box is unkind..LOL.