Owners Forgive Suspects in Boat Theft : Crime: Laguna Beach couple says homeless man who was treated for hypothermia after capsizing their catamaran has endured enough. A second man swam safely to shore.

Figuring a near-death experience was sufficient punishment, a local couple asked police Friday not to seek prosecution of two men who allegedly stole their catamaran and capsized it in strong winds.

Kelly and Walter Viszolay opted to forgive the two men who police said took the 18-foot-craft after one of them, Scott Gregory Houston, 23, nearly froze in the chilly waters off the Laguna coast early Thursday morning.

“He seemed really remorseful,” said Kelly Viszolay, who spoke to Houston in the hospital before he was released. “He agreed to pay the damages, if any. It seemed like he was really scared and really sorry.”

Witnesses told police they saw two men steal the catamaran early Thursday morning from a beach near the Hotel Laguna. During an ocean search, officials found Houston, who is homeless, floating in 57-degree water more than a mile off Main Beach and wearing only a life jacket and trousers.

Houston was taken to Hoag Memorial Hospital Presbyterian for treatment of hypothermia, said Lt. Dick Olson of the Orange County Sheriff’s Harbor Patrol. His temperature had dipped to 84 degrees, officials said.

Investigators continued looking for Houston’s partner after Houston’s rescue but called off their fruitless search. Thursday evening, investigators got a tip on the man’s identity, Olson said, and called his mother. Five minutes later, the man called police to say he had swum safely ashore, but he refused to turn himself in.

Laguna Beach Police Officer Robert August said police have dropped their search for the man, whose identity was not released, because the Viszolays declined to press charges.

The Viszolays said they were surprised someone would steal their boat, the No Ka Oi--a Hawaiian saying that means “the very best”--because it was missing the front sail, the keel and the tiller.

“It just had the mainsail,” Kelly Viszolay said. “Apparently, they were sailing along OK, and then the mast broke and they got stuck out there.”

Kelly Viszolay said Houston told her that neither he nor his friend had any sailing experience. They took the boat on a lark, she said.

She said she was particularly forgiving of Houston because the incident seemed to fit the wacky character of Laguna Beach.

“People do crazy stuff,” she said, “especially in Laguna.”