1 Dead, 1 Rescued, 4 Missing After Boat Capsizes Off Sonoma Coast. One person was found alive and a body was recovered during a massive search effort Sunday along the Sonoma County coast for a group that was aboard a recreational vessel that capsized, officials said.
Four people were still missing Sunday night.
Helicopters, a plane, rescue boats and a variety of state and local agencies, as well as the California Air National Guard and the U.S. Coast Guard, are involved in the search, which began late Saturday.
Six people were aboard a 21-foot Bayliner that left to go crabbing at around 3 p.m. Saturday from the Westside Regional Park’s boat launch in Bodega Bay, officials said.
Saturday was the opening day of Dungeness Crab season.
The group consisted of five family members and a family friend from Corning, California, in Tehama County, according to U.S. Coast Guard Chief Petty Officer Levi Read. It was not immediately clear whether the friend was a child or an adult.
The search started about 10 p.m. Saturday after someone called the Sonoma County Sheriff’s Office saying they had not heard from the group, according to Deputy Rob Dillion, a sheriff’s spokesman.
The Coast Guard was contacted about 11:40 p.m. Saturday, officials said.
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Dillion said the search was halted overnight and picked up again around 4 a.m. Sunday, as emergency responders had reported floating debris and life jackets throughout the coast.
About 8 a.m. Sunday, an 11-year-old was located alive along South Salmon Creek Beach north of Bodega Bay. The child was “receiving medical treatment.”
According to Read, at around noon Sunday searchers encountered the body of teen in water.
Searchers continued Sunday seeking three adults and a child in the party-all wearing life vests-officials said.
Coastal deputies pinged the cell phone of one of the people aboard the vessel, and it came back near Carmet Beach in Bodega Bay.
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This does stretch in miles along the coasts of Sonoma and Marin counties-from at least Carmet Beach just south of Jenner, stretching out to the mouth of the Tomales Bay, then east to the mouth of the Russian River and possibly further north.
This is according to Dillion as he said that there was at least two patrolling over the area around Doran Beach and Tomales Bay.
He added that the 11-year-old, who was also wearing a vest, was interviewed by first responders and said the boat had capsized.
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On Saturday night through Sunday afternoon, wind gusts off the coast were 30 mph, which is a little strong but nothing out of the ordinary, said Rick Canepa, a National Weather Service meteorologist with the agency’s Monterey office.
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A small craft advisory was issued by the weather service Saturday night through 3 a.m. Monday for an area that included the area where the boat went missing. There is no definition by the Weather Service of what exactly is meant by a “small craft,” though some factors include “experience of the vessel operator, and the type, overall size, and sea worthiness of the vessel.
“Inexperienced mariners, especially those operating smaller vessels, should avoid navigating in hazardous conditions,” the advisory states.
The water temperature around Bodega Bay Saturday night and Sunday was around 54 degrees, officials said.
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At that temperature, people in the water for some time can experience cold water shock — causing dramatic changes to heart rate, breathing and blood pressure — and can quickly develop hypothermia, especially if they are moving around more and exposing more of their body to the water.
“It can be overwhelming to try to survive those conditions,” Canepa said.
A beach hazards alert went into effect at 3 p.m. Sunday for the coastal North Bay as a conditions that could create dangerous breaking waves of 10 to 14 feet were possible, weather service forecasters said.
This could increase the opportunity for rip currents, strong and narrow currents that flow away from shore, and sneaker waves, which come ashore quickly and can drag people into the ocean, added forecasters.
The hazardous conditions might impact search operations but personnel will continue until dangerous conditions materialize, if they do, Dillion said.
“It is completely dependent on what Mother Nature throws at us in combination with what we are able to do with personnel,” he said.
All of the agencies are “working independently for a common goal” of finding the missing people, Dillion said.
Around 10:30 a.m. Sunday, beachgoers along Dillon Beach said they saw several helicopters hovering over the mouth of Tomales Bay and then fly north along the coastline toward Bodega Bay and Doran Beach.
They described the helicopters as flying low to the water over the heads of the few surfers bobbing in the waves off Dillon Beach, perhaps 100 feet above the water.
In addition to this aerial show, a military plane was searching just offshore there, witnesses said, circling from the edge of Tomales Point — the northern tip of Point Reyes National Seashore, toward Dillon Beach and the bay mouth.
The search area for the Bodega Bay stretch includes personnel from California State Parks, UTVs, Sheriff’s Office helicopter Henry-1, and the marine unit, Sonoma County Fire District, and the county search and rescue team.
