Missing Boat Had Ballast Removed

Coast Guard officials looking into the disappearance of a 41-foot fishing trawler and all seven crew members off Santa Cruz Island focused Monday on the possibility that the vessel capsized because 3,000 pounds of ballast recently had been removed.

The loss of ballast “would have made the boat less stable,” 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, co-owner of the Vil Vana, confirmed that stones in the 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 time the 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, he 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.

Rennard also eliminated fire or an explosion as the cause of the sinking. 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, 30, a native of Korea who has lived in the United States for 15 years.

Choi, an Oxnard resident, was believed to be on board when the accident occurred. Other members of the crew were Dan Pelton, 33, 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 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 45 hours, five Coast Guard aircraft and five cutters searched for survivors over a 2,800-square-mile area.

Missing Fishing Boat

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