Huge Waves Pound Coastline : 16 Saved in Daring Sea Rescues

Sixteen people were snatched from death at sea in three dramatic Coast Guard rescues before dawn Tuesday as waves up to 28 feet high pounded the full length of the fog-bound California coast.

However, one man was still missing off San Francisco. Six of his colleagues were rescued 10 hours after their sailboat had capsized.

And all along the coast, authorities reported that scores of small craft were overdue because they had taken refuge in sheltered bays.

Waves at Channel Islands Harbor near Oxnard towered so high they “exceeded all safety limits for the Coast Guard boats and personnel there,” said Chief Petty Officer Charles Crosby.

The first rescue was in Southern California and came after six fishermen aboard the 83-foot C in D, out of Port Hueneme, sent out frantic signals that they could not restart their engine and were being swept by 20-foot waves toward the jagged rocks of San Nicholas Island, 60 miles west of Santa Catalina Island.

A Navy H-60 helicopter and a Coast Guard H-3 helicopter combed the seas near the island for four hours until 3:25 a.m. Tuesday, when the Navy helicopter spotted the boat through a break in the thick fog, Coast Guard Petty Officer Tom Heflich said. “The boat was helpless and only about 200 yards from the rocks,” Heflich said.

The Coast Guard helicopter sped to the scene, hoisted the men off the stricken boat and flew them to San Nicholas Island, where they were all reported to be unharmed, Heflich said. None of the men was identified.

The six fishermen later were flown back to Point Mugu Naval Air Station in a chartered plane. The 82-foot Coast Guard cutter Point Evans took the fishing boat in tow and was expected to reach Long Beach harbor Tuesday evening.

Life Raft Upended

Seven men aboard the 60-foot sailboat Girlfriend III scrambled into a life raft after their boat capsized four miles off the Golden Gate late Monday night, Coast Guard Petty Officer Kathleen Potter said in San Francisco. But giant waves turned over the raft, Potter said.

Those rescued were Bruce T. Martins, 36, of San Rafael; Gary P. Lewis, 42, Sacramento; Don H. Ford, 28, San Francisco; Rick S. Greenwell, 32, San Francisco, and James L. Sinpardos, 44, and Charles W. Campbell, 59, both of Citrus Heights.

James Vivian, 45, of San Rafael was still missing late Tuesday. A helicopter search was suspended for the day after heavy fog closed in.

“The indications we have are not promising,” said Coast Guard Lt. Tom Rydell in response to a question about Vivian’s chances of survival.

The boat belonged to Greenwell, who is a cameraman for KRON television in San Francisco. Greenwell and other survivors were not available for comment, but Scott Lewis, assignment manager of the television station, said the men were sailing the boat from Wilmington to Sausalito, where Greenwell intended to live on it with his wife.

“They told me at about 6 p.m. Monday they were hit by a 30-foot wave which damaged the boat so badly they knew they would have to abandon it,” said Lewis. “All seven of them managed to get into the life raft, but the waves were so enormous they were tipped out of it five times during the next 10 hours before they were rescued.”

In the same area, three men were rescued from the 50-foot sailboat Wendy II by the 82-foot Coast Guard cutter Point Heyer after a three-foot hole was smashed in its bow, Potter said. A fourth man, who was injured, was lifted off the vessel by a Coast Guard helicopter and flown to Peninsula Hospital in Burlingame.

Peninsula Hospital spokeswoman Mary Graver said the man, Stewart Caskie, 42, of Sausalito, was not badly injured and was not admitted to the hospital.

The skipper of Wendy II, Paul Stevenson, of Sausalito, said the boat was hit “by the biggest wave I’ve ever seen. The seas were so high, you’d dive your nose in and take on water, lots of water.” Neither of the other two men rescued were identified.

Marine forecaster John Henderson of the National Weather Service in Los Angeles said there were 25 foot waves all along the California coast Monday afternoon and Monday night, and the highest known waves, topping 28 feet, were registered north of San Francisco.

The giant waves have already lessened, he said, and they will continue to diminish Wednesday.