Coast Guard Names Boat After Anacapa

The newly commissioned U. S. Coast Guard Cutter Anacapa is clipping its way north today along the Mexican coast toward its namesake in the Channel Islands and a two-day port call in Ventura, the first U. S. stop since it put to sea from its Louisiana shipyard late last month.

The 110-foot patrol boat, whose ultimate destination is the Alaskan fishing town of Petersburg, will dock at Ventura Harbor long enough to show off its classy new interior to Navy and Coast Guard dignitaries Friday night. It will stand inspection for the public at an open house from noon to 5 p.m Saturday.

The all-white ship is nearly 10 yards longer than the two 25-year-old cutters that permanently patrol the waters of the Channel Islands: the Point Judith stationed off Santa Barbara and the Point Carrew stationed at the Channel Islands Harbor in Oxnard.

Its builders say the Anacapa is more comfortable than older models for its 16 crew members, that it features an entertainment center with television and stereo, and has a full radar and navigation system that can pinpoint for the captain exactly where he sits on the globe at any time.

But the main thing is that the Anacapa is fast.

“She gets up and goes,” said Lonny Babin, an engineer at the Bollinger shipyard in Lockport, La., where the Anacapa was built. “She travels at about 30 knots, top end, and cruises at 12.8.”

The Anacapa is one of 16 patrol boats the Coast Guard commissioned Bollinger to build. The boats will be used to rescue those in trouble at sea and patrol the coast for drug smugglers, the Coast Guard said. The Anacapa also will patrol for fishing violations in the international waters off Alaska, where the United States, Soviets and Japanese all compete.

The Anacapa is an Island Class cutter; all 16 Coast Guard boats will be named after islands off the U. S. coast, officials said.