Quick Thinking Saved Crew of Capsized Boat

It had been bright and calm, a marvelous day for sailing. Then the boat began to list, tipping over farther and farther until it capsized.

That was the picture painted Saturday by Coast Guard officials who interviewed five crew members of the 66-foot sailboat Pandemonium, who were rescued at sea 300 miles west of San Francisco on Thursday.

The five arrived in Long Beach late Saturday, shaken but otherwise in good condition, Coast Guard Petty Officer Elizabeth Neely said. The crew members were Rick Carolus of Newport Beach, skipper John Frisch of Marina del Rey, Nancy David of Fort Lauderdale, Fla., Graeme Gilchrist of Glasgow, Scotland, Grant Sennor, whose address is not known. The boat is owned by William Desmond of Los Altos Hills, who was not on board at the time.

The boat was on its way back to the mainland after competing in the Transpac race, which departed Southern California for Hawaii in July. They had been on the return trip for 11 days and were a two-day sail away from San Francisco, their destination.

Conditions Were Ideal

The crew had reported ideal conditions that afternoon, Neely said.

Carolus and David were on watch at just after 4 p.m. Thursday when the boat began to list. Because they believed the motion to be natural, they took no action right away, Neely said. By the time the sailors realized the boat was capsizing, it was too late. David and Carolus were able to jump into a life raft that automatically opened. The other three had been below deck and were trapped under water, along with the second life raft.

Neely said that it was the crew’s levelheadedness and some quick thinking by Frisch that saved them.

Frisch dove under the boat and retrieved a flashlight, flares, life jackets and a knife, and he was also able to loosen the second life raft for the others to board.

He activated an emergency radio signal, which was picked up by a commercial airline pilot who radioed authorities.

The Coast Guard dispatched a C-130 cargo plane to the area, and the life rafts were spotted about 7 p.m.

A nearby merchant ship, the Green Ocean, which is registered in Panama, was enlisted to pick up the wet and weary crew about bout an hour later, Neely said.

“They all have a fair amount of sailing experience and said they didn’t panic,” she said. “When I asked them if the would continue sailing, they indicated it was just a freak accident and said yes.”

There was no indication of how or why the keel came off, she said.