Brother Will Seek to Change Boating Laws

The brother of a San Diego fisherman who drowned after a huge wake from a passing luxury yacht flipped his 35-foot boat in San Diego Bay Tuesday morning says he will seek changes in the state’s boating laws so others don’t fall victim to the same tragedy.

Peter Corona, brother of Thomas Corona, 64, whose funeral was Saturday, says he will soon petition San Diego-area legislators for the changes, including posted speed limits in bays and other waterways.

Peter Corona, 61, is superintendent of schools in Emeryville, Calif., and has been a superintendent for different districts in Northern California for 30 years.

If legislators here do not act on his requests, he said, he will take his case to northern representatives, with whom, he says, he has more influence.

“If this could happen to an experienced seaman, what’s going to happen to the weekend boater who goes out with his children and wife?” Corona said. “Maybe Tom’s case alerted us to that. Maybe he hasn’t died in vain.”

Witnesses said that about 10 a.m. Tuesday a white 80-foot cabin cruiser sped by Tom Corona’s boat, the Chaser, at 25 to 30 m.p.h. roughly 300 yards south of Shelter Island, creating the wake that toppled the boat. Witnesses said the yacht did not stop.

Corona’s crewman, Ben Storniolo, was pulled from the water unharmed. By Saturday afternoon, Harbor Police, who are investigating the case, said they had not located the yacht witnesses described.

“I feel (authorities) are doing what they can,” Corona said. “Maybe the one good thing that could come out of this is maybe we can get legislation to see that this doesn’t happen to other people,” he said.

Corona said he and Tom grew up on Kettner Street, two of five sons of an Italian fisherman. After attending San Diego High School, Tom left for service in Gen. George S. Patton’s post-World War II occupation army in Germany. When he returned, he continued his favorite pastime since he was 8, fishing.

“He was a real humanitarian,” Corona said. “He really lived up to the ideals of family responsibility.”

Tom Corona’s wife died in 1973. “He gave up the sea to come home and comfort her day in and day out (during her sickness),” he said. “He had the patience of Job.”