kdfwr911 (retired)
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Coast Guard reports 3 dead, 1 missing in sailboat race
A 37-foot sailboat apparently collided with a much larger vessel during the annual sailing race from Newport Beach, Calif., to Ensenada, Mexico,
killing three crew members and leaving one missing, a sailing association said early on Sunday.
"An investigation was continuing, but it appeared the damage was not inflicted by an explosion but by a collision with a ship much larger than the
37-foot vessel," Newport Ocean Sailing Association spokesman Rich Roberts said in a statement.
The sailboat Aegean had been reported missing Saturday morning near the Coronado Islands, just south of the border, Coast Guard spokesman Henry G.
Dunphy said in a news release.
"The first indication of the incident was at 1:30 a.m. Saturday when the boat's image vanished from the online race tracking system in place for the
race. A Coast Guard search was launched that led to discovery of the boat's wreckage, including the rear transom with the boat's name on it," Roberts
said.
Dunphy said vessels near the Coronados reported seeing debris at about 10 a.m. and three sailors were found dead in the afternoon. One body was
recovered by a Coast Guard helicopter and two others by a civilian crew.
Dunphy said race officials reported the Aegean missing about 11:40 a.m. The Associated Press reported that the Aegean's home port was Redondo Beach.
The names of the crew were not released.
The 125-mile race, organized by the Newport Ocean Sailing Association, began at 11 a.m. Friday off the Balboa Pier in Newport Beach. The race crosses
heavy shipping lanes off San Diego, and only a relative few boats can finish before darkness the first night.
More than 200 boats had entered the race as of Wednesday, though it was unclear how many started.
Some boats can finish the race in less than 12 hours, but others can take up to two days.
The incident comes two weeks after an accident during a race from San Francisco to the Farallon Islands left five sailors dead.
http://usnews.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/04/29/11453097-3-dead...
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kdfwr911 (retired)
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ENSENADA, Mexico - Eric Lamb was doing safety patrol on a 124-mile yacht race when he spotted a boat that appeared too close to Mexico's Coronado
Islands. He never got there.
As his twin-engine boat neared the uninhabited islands just south of San Diego, he stumbled on sailboat shards that were mostly no more than six
inches long strewn over about two square miles. He saw a small refrigerator, a white seat cushion and empty containers of yogurt and soy milk.
Over several hours, a U.S. Coast Guard helicopter directed him in his search and led him to two dead bodies floating with their backs up, badly
scraped and bruised. The Coast Guard recovered a third body and the fourth member of the crew was missing early Monday in California's second deadly
accident this month involving an ocean race.
Lamb, 62, said the 37-foot yacht looked like it "had gone through a blender."
A GPS race tracking system indicated the Aegean disappeared about 1:30 a.m. PT (4:30 a.m. ET) Saturday, said Rich Roberts, a spokesman for the race
organizer. Race organizers weren't closely monitoring the race at that hour but a disappearing signal is no cause for alarm because receivers
occasionally suffer glitches, he said.
"Somebody may have thought the thing was broken," Roberts said.
Lamb, who has been patrolling the race for eight years as captain for a private company, saw the debris nine hours later, called the Coast Guard, and
searched for identifying information. He and a partner found a life raft with a registration number and a panel with the ship's name.
Click the link for the full story http://usnews.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/04/30/11466954-gone-t...
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