Newport Beach Boat : Two Tell of Surviving 6 Storms at Sea

Two men, including one from Newport Beach, told Tuesday of surviving a series of six violent storms that battered their sailboat and left it drifting helplessly for almost a week before they were rescued.

U.S. Coast Guard Petty Officer Dan Waldschmidt said the two told the Coast Guard how the storms blew out the boat’s sails and snapped its mainmast. Waldschmidt spoke after the battered sailboat was towed by a Coast Guard cutter to a Honolulu dock.

Laurence F. Deal, 44, of Newport Beach, and his friend, Mario Silva, 34, of Honolulu, set sail from Newport Beach on Nov. 11 in Deal’s 48-foot ketch, the Joie de Mere III, Waldschmidt said.

“They told us that three days after they left California they were hit by winds that blew more than 50 knots,” Waldschmidt said in a telephone interview from Honolulu. “That lasted for 36 hours and ripped up some of their sails.”

The gale was followed by about two days of doldrums, “and after that, a series of five more storms just beat them up,” he said.

On Nov. 28, when they were about 280 miles from their destination, Honolulu, howling winds snapped 15 feet off the top of the mainmast, carrying with it almost all of the vessel’s radio antenna.

“The radio wouldn’t work, the auxiliary engine wouldn’t start, and they couldn’t activate their emergency position indicator beacon,” Waldschmidt said. “Meanwhile, they were drifting 560 miles southwest of the islands during the next five days.”

After dark on the fifth day, the men saw the white masthead light of a passing Dutch freighter, the Mastroom, and fired flares.

The freighter responded, and radioed their position to the Coast Guard. The sailboat was taken in tow by the cutter Sassafras and 2 1/2 days later, on Monday, they reached the harbor.

Both men were said to be in good health.

Waldschmidt said Deal’s wife met him at the dock. “Apparently they were planning a vacation here,” he said. “We don’t know where they’re staying.”

Neither Deal’s residence nor his investment business in Long Beach could be reached for further information.