Missing California blowboat may be a hoax

Maritime News Marine Incidents
1

CNN reporting. This was the one with the family of four and dad called it in.

2

It would be actually wonderful it is was exactly that. I was feeling sick at the thought of the two very young kids who where supposed to be aboard. Why people would take a small sailboat offshore with forecast bad weather and little children with them was incredulous to me.

3

This has been all over the news this week here in CA. I’ve been wondering the same thing. Seems strange that nobody would have come forward.

4

I’m glad too if this is true, but I hope the find the asshat who called it in. He tied up valuable resources. People risked their lives to look for nobody.

5

Indeed. I wouldn’t want to go offshore without a EPIRB or any type of survival equipment, even on a nice day. Lashing together coolers for a raft, give me a break. You can purchase a GPS enabled personal EPIRB for a few hundred dollars these days. And if you are going to sail offshore you need a life raft at a minimum.

6

Here’s an update from the USCG:

SAN FRANCISCO – The Coast Guard suspended the search at 9:30 a.m. for four people who reported abandoning their 29-foot sailboat approximately 65 miles off the coast of Monterey, Calif., Sunday.

Coast Guard crews made 34 searches with the assistance of the Navy and 129th Rescue Wing, California Air National Guard doing five additional searches.

The multi-agency search covered an area approximately 20,000 square miles, an area roughly the size of West Virginia. The search lasted 42 hours and involved hundreds of rescue workers.

Assets involved in the search include:

Coast Guard Cutter Active
CGC Pike
CGC Tern
Air Station Sacramento HC-130 Hercules
Air Station San Francisco MH-65 Dolphin helicopters
Coast Guard Station Monterey, 47-foot motor lifeboat crew
129th Rescue Wing, California Air National Guard
E2-C Hawkeye from the Navy’s Carrier Airborne Command and Control Squadron One One Seve

If it was a hoax, which I’m hoping it was, whoever called it in is going to have one big ass bill on their hands if caught.

7

That and the guy sounded way too calm. Almost like he’d had training in that regard.