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The search resumed on Monday for two adults and two children who called for help on their sinking sailboat about 65 miles off Monterey on Sunday.
A Coast Guard helicopter took off about 6:45 a.m. to look again for the four, including two children under 8, who reported their sailboat was sinking about 4:20 p.m. Sunday, according to Coast Guard Lt. Heather Lampert. She added that the boaters said their 29-foot sailboat was taking on water and their electronics were failing, and their boat may be called the Charmblow.
The four were originally thought to have gone missing off Half Moon Bay and are believed to be traveling south based on the flow of the current, Coast Guard officials said.
An hour later, the group reported that they were abandoning their boat. They didn't have life rafts so they were trying to make one out of a cooler and life preserver ring, Lampert said. It's unknown if they had life jackets.
The Coast Guard then lost radio contact with the group.
The National Weather Service had issued an advisory throughout the weekend warning boaters of strong winds and rough seas around the Bay Area.
Mariners "operating smaller vessels should avoid navigating in these conditions," the advisory said.
A search overnight, which included crews from the California Air National Guard, and Coast Guardsmen aboard a 210-foot cutter, yielded no results.
The Coast Guard is asking anyone with any information regarding the incident to notify the Coast Guard immediately at 415-399-3547.
NBC Bay Area's Bob Redell contributed to this report.
This story was originally published on Mon Feb 25, 2013 4:12 AM EST
Leave a Comment:
It is inconceivable that a boat of that size didn't have life preservers. I've never seen one without. Still, 65 miles off shore without a life raft seems pretty foolish to me. If it was a real call, and they went in the water, it is all over by now....
On a sailboat in the middle of the ocean.
With two little children.
And not one self inflatable life raft.
Clinging to a cooler and ONE life life preserver ring.
No comment is possible.
Here's what I have to say... you have the money to birth a boat, own a boat and sail the boat but you won't spend $1600 to ensure your safety and that of your passengers. Stupid...
http://www.tackletogo.com/recoco6va.html?utm_source=googlepepla&utm_medium=adwords&id=19426360814&utm_content=pla
This is a very sad story if it is one, The grammer and struture of the written article is that of a 4 grade student. Even that is a compliment. A 29 foot Sailboat is like a toothpick in an olympic sized swimming pool. You are on the 10 meter board trying to locate the waterlogged toothpick. That is what it would be like searching for this vessel in these waters in prime weather conditions. Who ever captained this vessel beyond the breakwaters of the monterrey coastline with children under eight should be criminally prosecuted if ever found.
Something is not right about this story.
What kind of journalism is this? Bad grammer, sentance structure, and punctuation. On a story that concerns the lives of a family stranded or sinking out in the Ocean. Someone who might be able to provide assistance might be close by if they could make any sense of what she is trying to say......YOu know name of vessel, what marina it left from, approximate positions,,,,etc
Um, telegram . . . the word "sentance" you used here, is actually spelled "sentence". So much for pointing fingers over "bad grammar, sentance structure and punctuation" . . . disgusting is right!
Too many people have no idea of the power of the sea or water. They think boats are a harmless form of light entertainment, and ignore the need for basic education. The United States Power Squadrons (www.usps.org) and the United States Coast Guard Auxiliary (www.uscg.mil) conduct boating safety classes all around the country. Too few boaters out there have availed themselves of the knowledge these fairly low-cost, but highly-informative courses can give them. You can even take the basic safety course on line, and in California, one is also offered by the Department of Boating and Waterways (www.dbw.ca.gov).
Don't risk your safety or that of your passengers. And in case you don't already know it, as the skipper you are responsible for the actions and safety of all your passengers and crew. If you set out in a boat that's not properly equipped and something goes horribly wrong, you can be held civilly and criminally liable. If you don't survive, the survivors or their heirs are entitled to a cause of action against your estate. Be smart; know the rules before you set one foot off the dock. Please!!
In our ABCs of Boating Safety, for example, one of the modules we cover is boating in adverse conditions. The first principle taught is to consult the weather service regarding conditions on the water. One may do this using the WX key on a marine radiotelephone, or call the Weather Service, or look it up on-line. If you live in a marine service area, as we do all along the California coast, the weather reports are tailored to the various regions of the coast. The Weather Channel, also available on-line, has an option for a marine forecast. You can also watch the weather report on television, or listen to it on the radio. There is no excuse for not knowing the weather conditions at sea; none.
Never, ever leave land without knowing what the weather at sea is, and will be during the time you expect to be out there.
If you own or skipper a boat, you are responsible for having the required safety equipment aboard. This includes life jackets (PFDs) for everyone aboard. Children must wear child sized PFDs, the appropriate size (there are four children's sizes) to be found in the Coast Guard approval block in every PFD they approve. In this country, every child below the age of 12 must wear a PFD anytime he or she is above decks.
As for other required safety equipment, it must be aboard and working. If you don't know what you should have aboard, go to www.safetyseal.net and find out. You can also, on that website, request that a Certified Vessel Examnier give you a free, confidential inspection and evaluation of your equipment. Even if you rent or borrow someone else's boat, you, as the skipper are responsible for having the required safety equipment aboard and in operating condition.
I teach these boating safety classes frequently, and I tell my students that any time you are in water that's over your head or less than 70 degrees, you are in an inherently dangerous situation. Boating is a lot of fun, but learn about boating safety from a certified instructor, not the guy you met at the tavern, or something you heard someone else say. Consult the websites above for further information.
You know what a gail is. There were 40kt winds all weekend. 16-22ft combined seas as well. With all your experience, do you think you could get a 29ft cal even 5 miles out before it was swamped? I was out and the coasties got the same kind of call. After about an hour of the back and forth, they were reporting 18 people in a 16ft trihull 10 of them cildren under 5. But the coasties still went out, it's their duty. Just don't fowl your prop on an MJ bale. It happens.
The point of my post was that someone with some basic boating safety education would have known enough not to go out in that kind of weather. Which by the way, is a "gale," not a "gail."
I wasn't trying to justify the trip, which was a manifestly unsafe voyage, emergency equipment or no.
My other point was that far too many people who go out in boats, whether on the ocean or even a peaceful lake, don't have any ideaa of safety, or safety requirements. In fact, the US Coast Guard statistics show that most recreational boating accidents happen on a clear day in good weather. Go to www.uscg.mil to find the latest report on recreational boating accident statistics.
I am stymied why a family would go 65 miles away from shore this time of year in a sailboat especially without proper safety equipment.I hope that they are found,that is if they want to be found.
Audio can be found here
What,No EPIRB,
This is truly a tragic story, and until the facts are all in, its far too early to start assigning blame for it. However, those waters are notoriously rough, especially this time of year, so if the reports of having no life vests, life raft or EPIRB aboard prove to be true, and these two children (under the age of 8) both perished at sea, this father is flat-out accountable, period, paragraph!
I've been fishing the North Pacific as far as 100-miles offshore myself now for close to 30-years, and I've had my share of incidents, but a distance of 65-miles in a 29-foot sailboat, in winter groundswell, with a single adult male and no meaningful safety equipment aboard, is asking for trouble. No doubt! Add to that the fact that those cool, north Pacific waters are literally teeming with Great Whites, year-around. Not good.
There was a gail warning in effect all weekend. There is no way a 29 ft sailboat would have made it a mile out of the harbor. These false calls are drug runners confusing the coasties.
It easy for some Dumb Ass sitting high dry and safe behind a keyboard to make stupid assumptions like that.. Why so evil dude ?
Man, that Pacific water is real cold this time of year. I'll be amazed if they're found alive, if at all (that location is also fairly infested with Great White sharks...)...
Real bad juju to go out in the Pacific without a life-raft...
real bad...
We can pray...but the Pacific is anything but...
if anything, hypothermia has already taken them...
I don't know but it looks like the adults took kids out on a boat without adequate prep work. All boats should have a life boat raft and life jackets. Even small boats can have a small life raft. You don't have to blow them up they are designed to open up and inflate automatically. Lets hope that these adults did not endanger these kids but if they did they should be severely punished. Children have the right to be raised by responsible parents and if a person can not offer a child this they should not have them. I hope they find them soon alive and well.
They were only supposed to be gone on a three hour tour....a three hour tour.....
Sad story; it's unlikely they'll be found alive, or found at all. A 29-ft. sailboat shouldn't be 65 miles off the coast, especially in Northern Calif. waters and winds, unless the boat is designed for heavy weather and its operator has sufficient boat handling skills and propersafety equipment. Lack of some kind of liferaft points to an inexperienced sailor, and is a tragedy waiting to happen..
A former owner of both a 30 and 34-ft sailboat, I can well imagine the difficulties that captain was facing. The Coast Guard has a formidable task in trying to locate any of them, that far offshore.
WTF Dude ?
from what part of this story did you draw a wild notion like that ?
Maybe you spend too much of your life on MSNBC in front of a P.C.
Get out outside an regain some perspective that isn't fantasy drama based.
It's always a big give away that well wishes for people are phony fake and mean absolutely nothing when they are immediately followed up with false rumor.