4 Men Rescued After Pleasure Boat Capsizes

A 28-foot pleasure boat out of Ventura Harbor capsized Saturday, tossing three of its four occupants into the Pacific Ocean near Anacapa Island.

Four Los Angeles men were aboard the $30,000 fiberglass boat, Lucky Strike, when it began taking on water about 9:45 a.m., said Coast Guard Petty Officer Armand Legaspi.

The boat’s owner, 47-year-old Ralph K. Crayton, started the boat in hopes of draining the water, but that did not help, according to Legaspi.

“His next action was to get the boat near the island in case the boat capsized. It capsized within 150 yards of the west end of the island,” Legaspi said.

Crayton, his son, Ahren, and their friend, Cecil Adams, all swam to the island. The fourth man, Arthur Jenkins, stayed with the vessel, climbing onto the hull as the boat rolled over.

The crew of the commercial fishing boat Separator rescued the men and notified the Coast Guard in Oxnard.

A rescue vessel was dispatched from the Coast Guard station in Channel Islands Harbor at 10 a.m. and arrived on scene at 11:30 a.m., Legaspi said. The men were taken back to Ventura Harbor by the Coast Guard.

Ventura-based Vessel Assist salvaged the Lucky Strike and towed it back to the harbor Saturday afternoon, Legaspi said. The boat held 180 gallons of fuel when it capsized, he said, but none of the fuel leaked into the ocean.

The three men who swam to the island suffered only minor injuries when they ran up against some barnacles.