SAN MIGUEL ISLAND : Grounded Boat Towed to Harbor

A three-day trip for 37 sport divers to the Channel Islands came to an abrupt end in stormy seas off San Miguel Island early Monday, when their boat ran aground in Simonton Cove, authorities said.

No injuries were reported in the early-morning incident, in which the captain of the 85-foot diving boat Vision managed to free the vessel before a U.S. Coast Guard cutter arrived on the scene, said Glen Fritzler of Santa Barbara’s Truth Aquatics.

But the grounding damaged the boat’s rudder and propeller, requiring the Coast Guard to tow the boat back to harbor, Fritzler said.

The boat’s captain, Mark Pittman, notified the Coast Guard at 5:40 a.m. that the boat was grounded off the northwest shore of San Miguel Island, said Petty Officer Liz Brannon, a Coast Guard spokeswoman.

When Pittman realized that the boat was aground, he ordered all passengers to don their wet suits in case the boat foundered and sank, said Fritzler, the boat’s owner, who spoke with Pittman by radio after the incident.

Winds were gusting to 40 m.p.h. at the time from the southeast, Fritzler said.

By the time the Point Bridge, an 82-foot Coast Guard cutter on patrol in the area, reached the scene at 7:30 a.m., Pittman had already freed the boat, Fritzler said.

Fritzler said the twin-engine boat had probably broken anchor during the night and drifted ashore. The divers had departed Santa Barbara on Saturday for a three-day diving expedition around the Channel Islands, Fritzler said. Monday was to have been the last day of the trip.