Coast Guard Says It Lost Time in Search

Coast Guard officials responsible for directing the search for the capsized Fish-n-Fool testified Friday that they lost more than an hour before securing an aircraft to monitor the boat’s emergency signal and to begin the search and rescue mission.

The Long Beach-based rescue coordinator testified that the Coast Guard base in San Diego was informed about two hours after the fatal Feb. 6 shipwreck that a Coast Guard aircraft flying from Los Angeles to Mexico had picked up an emergency signal near the Baja peninsula.

Lt. Lee Foresman, who was in charge of the rescue operation, told a joint U.S. Coast Guard-National Transportation Safety Board panel in San Diego investigating the tragedy that he ordered the aircraft to change course and find the transmitter.

But the aircraft had insufficient fuel so Foresman decided five minutes later to dispatch a second plane, which was in the air near San Clemente. Then the second plane, too, needed fuel and ended up stopping in San Diego. It was unable to reach the area of the wreck for 1 1/2 hours.

Foresman said he had expected the trip from San Clemente to take a half hour. He said he did not consider telling the first plane to try to refuel in Mexico.

He also told the panel that although the first plane was in the area of the emergency signal, it had too little fuel to drop altitude and search, and its scheduled mission of delivering equipment for an anti-narcotics operation was a priority.

Asked if he thought rescue crews lost valuable time, Foresman responded, “I really can’t say. I haven’t really thought about it. That would be speculation on my part.”

Jim Sims, 29, a survivor of the shipwreck, indicated on Thursday that some of the 12 passengers were still trying to swim to San Martin Island when the distress signal was heard by the first plane.

The 57-foot sport fishing boat capsized about 150 miles southeast of San Diego, leaving 10 people dead. Only two people aboard survived the wreck, which investigators believe occurred when a 20-foot wave struck the boat near a rocky outcropping off San Quintin, Mexico.

An aircraft finally reached the scene at about 5 p.m. Lt. Kevin Krumdieck, the pilot, said his crew located one survivor floating on a life raft with four other life rafts nearby. The crew then called by radio for a rescue helicopter.

But Coast Guard officials said that the only available HH-65 Dolphin rescue helicopter available was on another assignment. Four rescue helicopters and three planes are assigned to the San Diego base.

Cmdr. Robert C. Belote, who coordinates aircraft flights, said three of the rescue helicopters were being repaired at the time. After refueling, the helicopter was not dispatched until 6:32 p.m.

Eventually the search broadened to include two additional helicopters from a nearby Navy ship.

Belote defended the handling of the rescue, saying after his testimony that despite the distress signal it would have taken time to locate the transmitter. He added that the Coast Guard frequently picks up emergency signals that turn out to be false alarms.

“We have to keep in mind that there was no way of telling where that source was coming from,” Belote said. “In February we had about 329 of these signals and the Fish-n-Fool was the only one that turned out to be real.”

Earlier Friday, a diver testified that he found a hole on the port side of the Fish-n-Fool and only recovered a fishing rod and a life preserver.

The sole surviving crew member, Cathy Compton, was scheduled to testify Friday but was unable to because of illness. She is expected to appear before the investigating board sometime late next week, her attorney said.

Sims, who testified Thursday, is expected to be called upon to testify again.

Those killed in the shipwreck were Steve Rhoads, 25, of Costa Mesa; Rusty Paxton, Kent Springman, 37, and Max Pfost, 52, all of Riverside; Timothy York, 25, and Ken Baldwin, 64, both of Huntington Beach; Terry Milam, 39, of Norco; Scott Milliron, 20, of Lakeside, George Stinson, 40, of Orange, and skipper Gary LaMont of Spring Valley.