Yacht sinks outside Golden Gate

[Fog Bank]

Crews search for 1 person in Bay after boat sinks | www.ktvu.com

This one strikes close to home. So far no sign of the missing individual.

[44'cruisingcat]

Is it just me or does there seem to be an extraordinary number of boats sinking this year?

Hope the crew is found soon and in good health.

[Fog Bank]

Originally Posted by 44'cruisingcat

Is it just me or does there seem to be an extraordinary number of boats sinking this year?

I was thinking the same thing.

[boatman61]

Anyone know what the weather/sea state was like..?
Looks pretty flat round that CG boat.. unless its a 'stock pic'...
Best wishes for a live recovery..

[mbianka]

Originally Posted by boatman61

Anyone know what the weather/sea state was like..?
Looks pretty flat round that CG boat.. unless its a 'stock pic'...
Best wishes for a live recovery..

Got some photo's here of the sinking boat. Does not look to be to terrible at least when the photo was taken:
Update: Coast Guard, partners continue to search for possible persons in the water off of Golden Gate Bridge

What is disturbing is this:
"Coast Guard, National Park Service, and local agency personnel continue to search for possible people in the water off the sailing vessel Alma in the vicinity of Yellow Bluff, near the Golden Gate Bridge.
The Coast Guard used information from the vessel's Emergency Personal Indicator Radio Beacon (EPIRB) and vessel operator's personal GPS tracker to narrow the search area and determine vessel departed the Grand St. Marina in Alameda, Sunday evening, with the intent to sail to Hawaii."

So the boat was sailing to Hawaii and never made it out of the harbor. It had an EPIRB activated and a personal GPS tracker and the sailor still was not found.
Shows how much of a crap shoot ones chance of rescue really are or something funny is going on. Too early to say which is the case here.

[Fog Bank]

Originally Posted by boatman61

Anyone know what the weather/sea state was like..?
Looks pretty flat round that CG boat.. unless its a 'stock pic'...
Best wishes for a live recovery..

My search for sea state yesterday turned up no answers. The weather was good, though foggy.

[boatman61]

Thanks Mike.. did wonder if it was a man overboard but with both EPIRB and PLB going off that's out...
If he'd jumped in a dinghy/liferaft he'd be found by now I'da thought.. or made it ashore.. very strange.. 24hrs gone and close in with no trace.. other than the boat.

[mbianka]

Originally Posted by boatman61

Thanks Mike.. did wonder if it was a man overboard but with both EPIRB and PLB going off that's out...
If he'd jumped in a dinghy/liferaft he'd be found by now I'da thought.. or made it ashore.. very strange.. 24hrs gone and close in with no trace.. other than the boat.

Boatman:

I'm not so sure it was a PLB. CG makes it sound like it was a PLB but, it might have been something like a SPOT tracker. Which would also have stayed with the boat. Hopefully we will get more details on what this sailors plans were and what he did actually have on board. Like a liferaft dingy etc...

[Fog Bank]

At this point it seems that a somewhat happy ending for this situation is unlikely.

Body Found In Water Near Angel Island A Day After SF Bay Shipwreck « CBS San Francisco

[markpierce]

It was very windy yesterday in the SF Bay Area. For instance, the wind blew my baseball hat off when on the boat while it was at its Vallejo berth.

[donradcliffe]

Wind at time of distress was 10-12 from WSW, and waves inside the bay would have been about 1 ft. The whole thing sounds weird, he hit the rocks inside the bay, and my best guess is that he was lost in the fog or fell asleep. Sounds like he was very inexperienced--hitting the Epirb instead of using the VHF inside the Bay is a clue.

The incoming tide would have carried a person in the water from Yellow Bluffs (which is inside the Golden Gate BTW) down through Raccoon straights to Angel Island, but the cold water would have incapacitated him in half an hour or less, even with a PFD.

[Lojanica]

Fog. Probably no radar. Wicked currents about the bridge narrows. ???

[s/v Beth]

People underestimate the banks and the current/swell interaction here on the west coast. Outside the gate the standing waves can get very nasty in apparently good weather. My Valiant got swamped very close to where this happened with a p.o. They spent the rest of the day pumping water out of the cabin.

[Cavalier]

Originally Posted by Fog Bank

At this point it seems that a somewhat happy ending for this situation is unlikely.

Body Found In Water Near Angel Island A Day After SF Bay Shipwreck « CBS San Francisco

This is a grim end if true. Speculation: looks as if the owner went overboard and the boat continued to run hard aground resulting in a hull breach...

[Stu Jackson]

Truly unfortunate. Sailing to Hawaii and hitting Yellow Bluff? But pictures show outside the Gate near Kirby Cove. Yellow Bluff is INSIDE the Bay and well North of the Gate on the way to Sausalito. VHF, EPRIB, PLC makes no sense, seems he didn't know how to use a GPS. I sail those very waters each week. It's important to recognize the differences between two miles west of the Gate and inside. Yes, standing waves can and do exist off and south and on the Potato Patch north of the shipping channel, but not so much between the Gate and Pt. Bonita, which is about three miles west fo the Gate. Sorry to hear the bad news. As always, conflicting reports, we're getting better, though, at minimizing speculation. Good work, skippers.

Weather, while foggy means different things to different people. This time of year, even heavy fog is no lower than 800-1500 feet above sea level. Rare, on the deck fog, usually only occurs in the winter around here. Different fog for different skippers.