Sailboat Grounded on Santa Rosa Island; Four Rescued After Whale Strike in Southern Pacific
A 25-ft sailboat ran aground on Santa Rosa Island last Thursday, leaving its sailor high and dry on the sand. The US Coast Guard, Sector Los Angeles-Long Beach, received a report of the vessel at 12:18 p.m. on VHF-FM channel 16.
Watchstanders organized an MH-60 Jayhawk helicopter crew from Ventura to respond to the call. One mariner was picked up, transported to Camarillo Airport, and assessed by Ventura County Fire Department personnel. No injuries were reported.
USCG watchstanders later confirmed that the boat had been removed by a local towing company and taken to Ventura Harbor.
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Elsewhere in the Pacific, much farther south, a crew of four was rescued from Tai Tam, a 51-ft Amel, after reportedly striking a whale around 250 miles northeast of Norfolk Island on Saturday.
The Australian-flagged boat was sailing home to Melbourne after a voyage around Fiji when it struck the whale. Aboard were Tai Tam’s Australian owners Jeremy and Gemma Cooper, a New Zealand national and a French national.
Jeremy told Australia’s Nine News of the massive impact in which Gemma, at the helm, “got thrown off the wheel.” According to the news report, Tai Tam’s rudder was “all but torn off.”
“And then you see a pod of whales around,” Jeremy commented.
When the boat began taking on significant water, the crew activated their EPIRB and boarded the life raft. New Zealand’s Rescue Coordination Centre (RCCNZ) received an alert at approximately 1 p.m. Saturday (local time), advising that the Tai Tam was sailing in difficult conditions and taking on water.
“We sat in the life raft and watched the boat sink 100 metres away from us, not a great moment,” Jeremy told Nine News.
The sailors spent about seven hours adrift in the raft before being picked up by the 470-ft cargo ship Sofrana Surville at around 6 a.m. Sunday.
We’ve shared many stories about the orca activity causing damage to sailboats near the Strait of Gibraltar, but not so much about whale and sailboat interactions in the Pacific. Readers may recall the story of the Kelly Peterson 44 Raindancer that collided with a whale in March 2023. As with Tai Tam, the sailors scrambled into their life raft while their boat sank to the ocean floor. Raindancer’s crew were picked up by the catamaran Rolling Stones.
Let’s hope whale strikes in the Pacific continue to be a rare occurrence!