Week in Review : MISCELLANY / NEWSMAKERS AND MILESTONES

Adrift for almost 19 hours in a powerless boat, six teen-agers arrived at Dana Point Harbor sunburned but unhurt, and a few of them knelt and kissed the ground.

Their ordeal began about 3:30 p.m. Wednesday when the engine on their 19-foot powerboat coughed and died about 20 miles from the coast on a trip from Santa Catalina Island to Dana Point.

When they had not arrived by 9:30 p.m., parents notified the Coast Guard at Long Beach, and an air and sea search started. The teen-agers, meanwhile, fired off flares, which brought a fishing boat to their rescue.

The teen-agers are Tim Bush, Robert John Mayer and Carrie Larson, all 17 and all of San Clemente; Valerie Gay, 15, of San Clemente, and Sabrina Clark, 17, and David Curtis, 16, both of San Juan Capistrano.

All are members of the Calvary Chapel in Capistrano Beach and had sailed to the island last week for camping and swimming.

“The toughest part was at night,” said Mayer, who was the boat’s skipper. “We just had to sort of huddle together under the canvas roof and try to keep warm. Luckily, we had plenty of food and water on board, and we all had life jackets.”

His mother, Mary Mayer of Laguna Beach, who had been waiting with other parents at the dock most of Thursday, said the hours before the boat was located were by far the worst.

“You feel like you’re frozen in a very small space and can’t get out to do anything,” she said, then added with a laugh: “When he gets home I’m going to hug and kiss him--and then beat the tar out of him.”