Sailboat Rescue - 90 miles out off Crescent City

Wow, gnarly seas!

California & Oregon Coast Guard crews rescue 6 people from sinking sailboat 90 miles offshore from Crescent City

https://www.dvidshub.net/video/807100/california-oregon-coast-guard-crews-rescue-6-people-sinking-sailboat-90-miles-offshore-crescent-city

Coast Guard Sector Humboldt Bay members Petty Officer 3rd Class Spencer Manson, a rescue swimmer, and Lt. Ryan O'Neill, an aircraft commander, discuss their June 19, 2021, rescue at Sector Humboldt Bay, Calif., July 13, 2021. The 79-foot sailboat Barlovento had become disabled in dangerous weather and the crew was rescued by Sector Humboldt Bay and Coast Guard Sector North Bend MH-65 Dolphin helicopter crews. (Coast Guard video by Petty Officer 2nd Class Brandon Giles/Released)

awaiting tedski knowledgeable commentary   

Hardcore.  Much respect.

awaiting tedski knowledgeable commentary   

+1

Awesome rescue and video...

True heroes.

Looks like a smoothly executed sortie to me... good times.  Just goes to show ya... shit can go south at any time no matter how prepared you are.  Some takeaways from this one that would apply to us kayakers.  Notice the swimmer said when they returned for the rest of the crew, they had them get in the water.  A lot of folks are surprised by this... why ask someone who is dry and uninjured to get into the drink for a rescue?  It comes down to crew safety for the coasties.  Mast swinging back and forth, a cable attached to the helicopter with a human dangling from it, lines in the water.  The easiest way to mitigate risk is eliminate it.  If you get the people in the water and the swimmer gets them away from the vessel, a quick strop hoist is safe as hell.  The risks are reduced to dynamic shock load if the flight mech mistimes a wave.  Some other inherent risks in there of course, but you get the idea.  So, if you need a helicopter ride... stay with the yak so they can find you quicker, but be prepared for the swimmer to say, "let go of that floaty thing and come with me... trust me."

BZ Coasties!

I can't let go.
Ain't nobody got time for that!

  Wow...     I wondered what could have gone wrong with a 79' boat...      Unbelieveably it's sort of Covid related.. they couldn't get fuel ...   Here's the story first hand from those on board..
   
    Maike KnospeJune 29, 2021 5:22 am

Hello to all of you
First I want to say
thank you that you rescued my life and life of all crew members.
We are very grateful for that.
And I can’t believe that it happened
I think my life is change now
( my English is not so good but I try to explain what has happened)
We’ve bought the Barlovento 6 years ago
Many things were restored :
New deck, some new planks, new masts,
We let repaired the engine and at last we let change the gearbox of the engine, new propeller, we retorted the skylights and fixed it with new fasteners, the electric were new the pumps controled we changed old fasteners of sails and changed the ropes( don’t know the English word for that) …
Before we started we let change some planks again new kalfatere new painting
The crew member, 6 persons worked the last three weeks to restore the last things.
Than we started in Port Townsend sailed to Port Angeles. It was amazing
The boat was perfect for offshore we have thought.
For our safety we had a satellite phone on Bord. We thought we could telephone every day to a person who gives us the news about weather We had two possibilities to hear weather reports.
Than we sailed to Neah Bay.
We didn’t know that it was closed for foreigners. We couldn’t refuel the tanks
Than we made the first mistake
We have thought we would have enough diesel to come to San Francisco
( it was enough, but when the boat was so much moving the diesel also moving and than came air into the engine
Normal our captain can repair that but the boat was so much moving that it was difficult to work on the engine)
Next mistake was a misunderstanding when we telephoned for weather report
We thought the person on telephone knew our plan non stop to go to San Francisco
He thought we are sailing near the cost and he wanted to say that we must sail near the costs
But we didn’t understand that
Next day the satellite telephone doesn’t work. But for our experience we had no worry about weather because it was stabilized weather wind force 5
And it looked stabilized
But the waves growing up and weather wasn’t stabil
We tried to telephone but it doesn’t work
Than we tried to come nearer to the cost also with engine
And suddenly the engine get air
After a while the electric doesn’t work
Than came very big waves
The boat was stabil and very good in the water. Nothing happened
24 hours we fight in the waves when the pumps Stopped to work
It happened that water came through skylight because the big waves overruns the boat
We felt safe because we know how to do. But the water didn’t run off
It changed ten times the side and suddenly I can’t understand why the water came through the skylights
No cabinet doors could stay closed
All things flew through the boat
I must do a small break because I didn’t sleep since two days and than the next very big wave came
I flew from one to the other side no chance to fix myself . It feels horrible
I smashed with my head onto the cabinet
Like a ball I flew around
My arm was broken
My teeth were loose
Because of my violation
And because of fatigue we have felt that the ends comes nearer.
There was no place to sleep because of wetness and moving
The pumps stopped to work
It came more and more water through the skylights
But the boat was good
We started to pump with handcraft( me not because my arm was broken)
Than I had very much headaches
My husband became fearful that I have blood in my head
He gaves me something against pain and fixed my arm with a wooden spoon
They pumped and tried to surf with waves
The boat was 9 knots fast without sails. We never seen waves like that.
And my husband knows how to sail. He was often offshore sailing everywhere in the world
Maybe i was not strong enough for adventures like this
And certainly we started this trip to rasher
But we all together were so happy on Bord and Barlovento runs through the ocean
It was magical
There were everywhere little mistakes we’ve made.
And we had information that it’s possible to sail the west coast
But also we’ve heard that we must not sail at this time.
Than after 30 hours fighting with waves and the information that the wind doesn’t stop since next day we must stop and called emergency
I could tell more and more about
Because we all together can’t understand why we have made so much wrong things
Barlovento
It’s a tragedy
Sorry that we let it happened
Sorry !

Oh, that's such a tough one.  Big disclaimer here that I have the benefit of hindsight, so this is more of a "learn from other peoples' mistakes" and not a "why didn't they do this and that?!"  They definitely should have activated EMS earlier.  The USCG will often set up a communications schedule with folks like this just to check in and see how things are going and ensure everyone's still safe.  This also gives the SAR folks last known positions with good accuracy should things turn south sooner.  That also means the USCG starts to broadcast a "Marine Assistance Request Broadcast" which notifies all mariners in the area of a vessel in need of help, but not yet in distress.  Obviously, this stuff doesn't apply to kayakers, but for power boaters... get the word out early.  Even if it doesn't turn into a SAR case, at least you might get a good samaritan that comes and gives you a tow so the seas settle a bit and you can work on clearing that vapor lock.  Planning wise, this crew should have spent more time on their float plan.  Not just marking their ports of call, but breaking out the Coast Pilot for the area and calling marinas/harbormasters to check on availability and services.  Depending on your plan being to call and make it up as you go just doesn't cut it obviously.  Glad everyone survived.  The wooden spoon splint job looked pretty good in the video.  I think their self assessment is a bit unfair, too.  I think they did pretty well all things considered. 

Probably a perfect example of the unexpected happened.  They seemed to fight pretty good with experienced crew.  Wow, just wow.  Also, that gas filled up issue .....     .... give them the fuel! 

Probably a perfect example of the unexpected happened.  They seemed to fight pretty good with experienced crew.  Wow, just wow.  Also, that gas filled up issue .....     .... give them the fuel! 

Fuel is available in Port Townsend and Port Angeles.  They obviously didn't inquire there about Neah Bay, since the reservation has been closed since last March and it's not a secret.  They left two perfectly good port towns without fuel and went to a remote (and closed) reservation that was the last stop for quite a while on their intended journey.  They proceeded anyway.

It seems like they were at a lack of local information throughout this trip.  I don't know if that is language barrier or if it is a lack of awareness of the reputation of the northeast pacific or both. 

Probably a perfect example of the unexpected happened.  They seemed to fight pretty good with experienced crew.  Wow, just wow.  Also, that gas filled up issue .....     .... give them the fuel! 

Fuel is available in Port Townsend and Port Angeles.  They obviously didn't inquire there about Neah Bay, since the reservation has been closed since last March and it's not a secret.  They left two perfectly good port towns without fuel and went to a remote (and closed) reservation that was the last stop for quite a while on their intended journey.  They proceeded anyway.

It seems like they were at a lack of local information throughout this trip.  I don't know if that is language barrier or if it is a lack of awareness of the reputation of the northeast pacific or both.

I stand corrected