LOS ANGELES — The Coast Guard is searching for a missing kayaker near Santa Claus Beach.
At 8:30 p.m., Monday, watchstanders at the Coast Guard Sector Los Angeles Operations Center in Long Beach received a report from LeeAnne Wood that her husband Phillip Wood, 55, had not returned from a kayak trip. Wood left from Santa Claus Beach in his blue single-man kayak at approximately 4 p.m., and was scheduled to return within an hour or two.
The Coast Guard immediately launched a 45-foot Response Boat — Medium boatcrew from Coast Guard Station Channel Islands and an MH-65D helicopter from Coast Guard Air Station Los Angeles along with a Montecito Fire Department swift-water rescue crew and a helicopter from Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Department to assist in the search. The Coast Guard Cutter Blacktip, an 87-foot Patrol Boat homeported in Channel Islands, is scheduled to search the area for Wood throughout the night.
If anyone has any information, please contact the Coast Guard Sector Los Angeles Command Center at (310) 521-3815.