Fishing Boat May Have Capsized, Investigators Say : Santa Cruz Island: The trawler’s co-owner confirms that 3,000 pounds of ballast had been removed. The Coast Guard eliminates the possibility of a collision with another vessel.

Coast Guard investigators suspect that a 41-foot fishing trawler that disappeared off Santa Cruz Island with seven men aboard may have capsized because 3,000 pounds of ballast had recently been removed, officials said Monday.

The loss of ballast “would have made the boat less stable than it was,” increasing potential for a rollover, said Lt. Cmdr. Pete Rennard, who is heading the investigation for the Coast Guard’s Marine Safety Office in Long Beach.

Alan Kwong of Alhambra, who is co-owner of the Vil Vana, confirmed that heavy stones in the vessel’s cargo hold were removed a few months ago to make room for pallets of bait.

Removing ballast is not illegal, the Coast Guard said. Depending on the original specifications of the Vil Vana, the removal of 3,000 pounds might not have affected the vessel’s stability, a Port Hueneme boat maker said.

But ballast “arbitrarily removed could be catastrophic,” said the boat builder, who asked not to be identified. “An improperly stabilized boat is the common cause of rollover.”

The rollover theory took on credence Monday when the Coast Guard virtually eliminated the possibility that the trawler collided with a freighter or tanker. The boat was 1 1/2 miles north of Santa Cruz and near a major shipping lane when the Coast Guard received an automatic distress signal at 5:34 p.m. Friday.

The Coast Guard, which has suspended its search for the missing fishermen, investigated six deep-draft vessels that used the southbound shipping lane Friday between noon and the moment the distress signal was detected by a satellite. Paint scrapings were taken from the hulls of the vessels, but none matched the blue hull of the Vil Vana, Rennard said.

“We have neither a witness nor any physical evidence that suggests a deep-draft vessel was involved in any kind of collision--particularly a collision with a blue-hulled vessel,” Rennard said.

Debris found at the scene and taken to the Coast Guard station in Oxnard “has nothing to indicate an impact from something hitting the vessel,” Rennard said. The fact that no part of the hull has been found indicates that the trawler sank intact and quickly in the 290-foot-deep waters, Rennard said.

The debris included three wet suits, a life ring and an ice chest, investigators said.

Rennard believes that the men, who were trawling for shrimp, had little or no time to react: Other than the automatic signal, no emergency radio calls were sent.

“Whatever happened took them by surprise,” he said. “They were in the water before they knew what happened.”

Collisions involving tankers and freighters in Santa Barbara Channel are rare, according to the Coast Guard. “I’m aware of only one in the last two years,” Petty Officer Marc Engelbrecht said, “and there have been no fatalities in the shipping lanes.”

Lil Connally, assistant manager of Island Packers, a firm that operates sightseeing boats in Santa Barbara Channel, said: “We have never had any problems in 25 years, even under foggy conditions.”

Rennard also eliminated fire or an explosion as the catastrophic event that sank the Vil Vana. The debris “shows no evidence of fire,” he said.

The Vil Vana, a wooden boat believed to be more than 25 years old, was purchased for $35,000 in December by Kwong and Sang Gyu Choi, a 30-year-old native of Korea who has lived in the United States for 15 years. The partners moved the boat from a berth in San Pedro to Ventura Harbor.

Choi, an Oxnard resident, was believed to be on board when the accident occurred. Other members of the crew were 33-year-old Dan Pelton of Ventura, who was captain of the Vil Vana; Benjamin Jordon, 24, and Donnie Watkins, 41, both of Ventura; John Kim of Glendale; William Choi, Kim’s 17-year-old nephew who is no relation to Sang Choi, and an unidentified man, the Coast Guard said.

Although the Vil Vana’s automatic distress signal was picked up by a satellite at 5:34 p.m., the Coast Guard was not able to pinpoint the transmission until about 8 p.m. For the next 42 hours, five Coast Guard aircraft and five cutters searched futilely for survivors over a 2,800-square-mile area.

The search was abandoned at 2:30 p.m. Sunday. Coast Guard investigators said it was doubtful that the men could survive longer than 12 hours in the 59-degree water.

Missing Fishing Boat The Vil Vana, a 41-foot fishing boat with seven aboard, was near a commercial shipping lane in the Santa Barbara Channel when it sent out a distress signal Friday. Searchers found debris nearby.