Coast Guard Rescues Two from Yacht Before it Sinks
On Thursday, the Coast Guard rescued two people from a 92-ft motoryacht before it sank off the coast of Monterey.
The crew of Going Coastal radioed the Coast Guard shortly before noon on Thursday; they were 35 miles off the coast of Monterey, according to a CG press release. Arriving on scene, the Coast Guard delivered a dewatering pump to the stricken motoryacht as it made its way toward Monterey Bay.
“Around 3:45 p.m., the crew noticed the rate of flooding had increased and the Coast Guard dispatched a Dolphin [helicopter] crew to assist,” the press release said. The CG ultimately delivered a rescue swimmer and a second pump. “At approximately 5:20 p.m., the ship had reportedly lost electrical and engine power and the flooding rate continued to increase. The Coast Guard RB-M crew rescued the Going Coastal crewmembers before the yacht sank approximately nine miles south of Monterey Bay.”
The Coast Guard said that there were some 1,200 gallons of diesel fuel aboard Going Coastal, and that the yacht’s owner is working with his insurance company to salvage the vessel.
Thieves Nab Equipment Trailer
“I regret to report that early [Friday] morning a thief drove into the Richmond Yacht Club storage yard and stole the equipment trailer for our J/125 Velvet Hammer,” reports Will Paxton. “This is likely the same person who stole one of our chase boats a few weeks ago. There is an infuriating 15-minute video of them trying to get into the small-boat yard.” RYC’s small-boat yard lies behind a locked gate. During the shelter-in-place order, even renters with key fobs can’t unlock that gate after 5 p.m. The time on the video is 2 a.m.
However, there are trailers parked inside RYC’s locked main gate but outside the gate to the small-boat dry storage yard.
The thieves “unhurriedly” checked out all the trailers before cutting the locks off Velvet Hammer’s and driving off. Unfortunately, the camera didn’t catch the thieves’ license plates. The video shows a silver Toyota FJ Cruiser (a compact SUV) towing the white 18-ft twin-axle trailer.
“I think that based on their casual appearance and ease of movement, this person is familiar with our club and has likely been there before,” commented Paxton. “Does anyone recognize that car?
“As the boat is undergoing a refit, the trailer was loaded with many sails, our standing rigging, emergency equipment, tools, lines, and so much more. We are gutted. Much of this custom gear is likely to be dumped in a ditch or on the side of the road somewhere. Please keep your eyes peeled, as we desperately hope that we can recover some of it! The trailer plate number is 4GV4322, for what it’s worth.”
Besides the FJ Cruiser and the trailer, be on the lookout for large gray and blue bags containing sails, coils of rope with metal shackles and a large coil of stainless steel rod rigging.
Paxton has posted a $1,000 reward. Text him at (510) 680-3281 if you have any information.
KKMI Project Manager’s Special
KKMI’s project manager is offering half off your haulout with the purchase of bottom painting package.
Dropping It into the Drink
We recently told you about New Zealand’s friendly divers who pop up from time to time to check on the status of your boat’s bottom. (That is not a metaphor or innuendo, by the way.)
In the spirit of being kind Kiwis, those divers occasionally retrieve items from the drink. Case in point:
It is admittedly a bit strange when your belongings find their way back to the surface. After that fateful splash and a difficult conversation with your partner, you might have journeyed through the five stages of grief, accepted the loss of the item in question, and moved on with your life. Having something suddenly appear on deck again can be a bit jarring, and an item’s reentry into life might take some time. There’s a part of you that may even lament the loss of what became an artificial reef and home to sea life.
Not all items are able to reenter society, though. Case in point:
All of this got us thinking: What have you dropped into the drink over the years? What’s the weirdest thing that you’ve sacrificed to Neptune? By weird, we mean everything from most expensive to most irreplaceable. And in the spirit of this post, what have you lost that was ultimately found again?
Please comment below, or write us here.
SailGP Canceled for 2020
SailGP has suspended racing for the remainder of 2020. The league will reschedule Season 2 events for 2021.
Two of the four impacted events already have new dates for 2021: San Francisco on April 17-18 and New York on June 4-5. SailGP also intends to return to the UK and Denmark during the rescheduled Season 2, replacing racing previously planned for August 14-15 and September 11-12 of this year.
They plan to expand Season 2’s five events to a minimum of seven during a yearlong period beginning in April 2021, spanning into the early months of 2022.
“The global nature of our league is one of our strongest characteristics,” commented SailGP CEO Sir Russell Coutts. “We bring together top talent from all over the world to organize and compete in a new form of professional racing. As we face this health emergency, our geographic diversity unfortunately becomes a potential liability to ourselves and those around us.
“We’ll use the coming months to focus on important initiatives to make both our racing and broadcast even more attractive — including through further development of our F50 catamarans, simulator and gaming platform, as well as enhanced data integration via artificial intelligence — while continuing to work toward our ambitious target of carbon neutrality by 2025.”
Results from 2020 Sydney SailGP — the first and only completed event of the year — will be null and void. Sir Ben Ainslie must be particularly disappointed. The league got in the one event before the WHO declared a pandemic. The four-time Olympic gold medalist Ainslie led the British entry to victory in his SailGP debut. They beat out the local favorite and defending season champion Tom Slingsby and his Aussie crew.