EDITORS NOTE: For hoist footage of the rescue click HERE
ALAMEDA, Calif. -- A Coast Guard aircrew rescued the operator of a damaged and adrift sailboat approximately 30 miles off Año Nuevo State Park Monday morning.
At approximately 7 a.m., Coast Guard Sector San Francisco watchstanders received a distress alert from a SPOT Satellite Messenger device. At 7:31 a.m. an aircrew from Coast Guard Air Station San Francisco was launched and around 40 minutes later, located the Kentucky Woman with one person aboard. On-scene weather was 40-to-50-knot winds and 15-to-20-foot seas.
The aircrew deployed the rescue swimmer into the water and he boarded the vessel. The master stated he had been taking on water for approximately 16 hours. In addition, the main sail had ripped apart and had wrapped around the mast, damaging his marine radio.
The damage made it far too difficult to hoist from the vessel. The rescue swimmer and survivor were safely hoisted and brought back to Air Station San Francisco with the survivor being in stable condition.