A second person has died after a boat sank off Leadbetter Point on Friday, July 11, reported Lieutenant Ryan Kelly of the Santa Barbara Harbor Patrol on Wednesday. Four people had taken the 24-foot skipjack-style boat on a fishing trip when the engine quit about two miles off the point and the captain noticed the boat was taking on water.
The fishing boat sank within minutes of the mayday call, and the four boaters quickly found themselves weighed down by their clothes in the cold water, a survivor later told the Independent. Three rescue boats were heading quickly toward them — two from Santa Barbara Harbor Patrol and the Shearwater, a NOAA research vessel with four crew and a contingent of UCSB students on board. A crewmember from the Shearwater jumped into the water with fins and flotation devices to bring a 6-year-old girl, two unconscious adults, and a fourth adult to the waiting ships. Only the girl was wearing a life vest when they were found, Kelly noted. The survivor said he had tried to throw the life vest he was wearing to another man.
CPR commenced on the unconscious adults aboard the boats and on land as they were taken to Cottage Hospital. Kelly said both men died on July 11 but that the Coroner’s Bureau only just informed Harbor Patrol about the second death. The first death was made public on Monday.
Kelly said the crews worked to protect the child from the sight of the individual receiving CPR on board the vessel. The college students aboard the Shearwater were also visibly upset by the tragedy they were witnessing, and a chaplain was sent to visit their boat, said Kelly, which was headed for the open Pacific.
He added that they have had to “dewater” a lot of boats when they come out of winter storage. “Sometimes its missing drain plugs or something like that, and we can usually get to them fast enough,” Kelly explained. The harbor has signboards offering life vests or personal floatation devices on loan for free, said Kelly. The boat was out of Azusa and was trailered to Santa Barbara for a day of fishing.
The location of the ship remains unknown, although the Coast Guard has swept the area via helicopter, said Kelly. It had flotation bags inflated, he noted, and it could now be drifting with the current. The identities of the victims have not been released.
Correction: This story was corrected to reflect that the adults on the boat were swimmers but were burdened by being fully clothed in very cold water. Some were wearing life vests, and one survivor said he’d tried to throw his vest to another man. The child’s father was not on the boat, which put into the water in Santa Barbara.
