Superyacht Rescues California Sailors

Matt and Judy Johnson of Antioch, along with their grandson Tyler, were rescued last Saturday after running their 40-ft Elsewhere onto the reef surrounding Aur Atoll in the Marshall Islands group. They were trying to enter the lagoon at the time of the accident. The Johnsons were saved by the 100-ft power yacht Blue Star, owned by
Russian-Israeli media tycoon Vladimir Gusinsky. The Blue Star had stopped in Aur for some diving and fishing when the crew heard the distress calls from Elsewhere and went to their aid. Gusinsky then called his shipping agents to send a salvage vessel from Majuro. But by the time it arrived on Sunday, Elsewhere was deemed too badly damaged to be pulled from the reef. Ironically, the Marshall Islands’ official rescue vessel, the Lomor, had departed for a refit in Australia on Friday.

Gusinsky has become a regular visitor to the Marshall group in the last few years, and one of its benefactors. He is involved in talks with local officials in Rongelap Island to set up a marine science lab, and has paid full scholarships for four Rongelap Islanders to attend college in Israel. Rongelap leaders, with U.S. funding, are still trying to clean up nuclear residue from nearby hydrogen bomb testing in 1954, as well as rebuild facilities and housing in the hope that exiled islanders may one day return.