Offshore & Inshore Rescues

Due to the enormous fleet of spectators drawn to San Francisco Bay this weekend for Fleet Week activities, first responders undoubtedly had their hands full inside the Central Bay. But the two most perilous incidents we know of occurred much farther afield. 

Friday afternoon, a father, his son and dog were rescued from their overturned boat (presumably a small fishing vessel) near Big Break Marina in the Delta town of Oakley by the crew of Bodega Bell, who responded to a Coast Guard broadcast after the father called for help via his cell phone. He did not have a radio, but both he and his son were wearing lifejackets.

The next day, rescue authorities intercepted a distress signal from a personal locator beacon coming from the Farallon Islands. A Coast Guard aircraft and rescue boat were dispatched toward the scene, but it was the crew of the San Francisco-based whale-watching boat Kitty Kat who ultimately retrieved three middle-aged men from the scene. Two were clinging to the hull of a 28-ft vessel (type unknown), and a third, who was unresponsive, was retrieved floating nearby. The Kitty Kat delivered the three men to Station Golden Gate, where personnel from Southern Marin Fire were standing by to receive them. 

Meanwhile, half a world away, a 26-year-old crewmember of the MOD70 trimaran Musandam-Oman Sail remains missing. Mohammed Al Alawi fell overboard last Wednesday during the predawn hours just south of Pula, Croatia, while the big tri was in transit from France to Trieste, Italy. Searching by the MOD70’s crew, with support from both the Croatian and Italian coast guards, was hampered by bad weather yesterday, but the effort continues today. Updates will be posted here.