NEWPORT BEACH : Fishing Boat Runs Aground Near Pier
The 57-foot fishing boat Sharkfin was towed to safety early Tuesday, more than an hour after the vessel and its six-member crew were temporarily grounded at the surf line east of the Newport Beach Pier, officials said.
Coast Guard Petty Officer Robert Beals said crew members of the San Pedro-based vessel issued a distress signal about 2:30 a.m., expressing fears that the boat was running aground.
The crew then lost communication with Coast Guard officers in Long Beach, but a Coast Guard helicopter and Orange County Sheriff’s Department boat later found the Sharkfin caught in the waves close to shore.
Craig Farmer, a Newport Beach marine safety officer, said two of the boat’s six passengers climbed into a tender--a small boat--and attempted to pull the Sharkfin out of the sand. But Farmer said a wave capsized the boat, throwing the men in the water.
“The wave just picked them up and turned their little boat upside down,” Farmer said. “They crawled out and walked to shore.”
Beals said another fishing boat, the Pamela Rose, later towed the Sharkfin to deeper waters. Beals said Coast Guard officials did not know why the vessel ran aground.
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