Monday, June 12, 2006

Tragedy


SW WIND 5 TO 10 KT...SLOWLY BACKING TO S THIS AFTERNOON.
WIND WAVES 1 FOOT.
W SWELL 4 FT AT 9 SECONDS.
TONIGHT S WIND 15 KT.
WIND WAVES 2 FT.
W SWELL 5 FT AT 9 SECONDS.

I was at dinner with a friend last night and we talked about the sailing accident that resulted in the death of a local teen. We spoke of the fact that the boy was knocked overboard by a wave, even though seas were only running about 5 feet. Apparently he wasn't tethered and they got hit by a double up that washed him off the boat.

Then at home later I received an e-mail from another friend informing me of the memorial service for his brother in law who died in a sailing accident off the California coast.

It's a small world. And one that just got a little smaller...

Here's the Oregonian story...

A Lincoln High School student who graduated last week died Tuesday in a sailing accident in the Pacific Ocean 35 miles west of San Francisco after a wave knocked him overboard.

The U.S. Coast Guard said Andrew Brinkley was pronounced dead at a Bay Area hospital Tuesday afternoon, apparently from hypothermia, after a wave knocked him overboard from his father's newly acquired sailboat.

The 29-foot boat called "Fat Chance" was about 35 miles off the California coastline near Point Reyes when the accident occured, said Lt. John Fu of the San Francisco-based U.S. Coast Guard.

Brinkley had set out on a sailing trip with his father, two other 2006 Lincoln graduates and Paddy Tillett, another parent, as part of a graduation trip.

The group had driven from Portland to San Francisco early Saturday to pick up a boat that Brinkley's father, Kenneth D. Brinkley, had recently acquired. They set sail on Saturday afternoon and were traveling north to bring the boat to Portland.

Shortly before 7:30 a.m. Tuesday, a wave hit the boat, sending Andrew Brinkley overboard. He was not tethered to a safety line but was wearing a life jacket at the time of the accident.

Fu said it was not known whether the other boaters were wearing life jackets.

Coast Guard officials received a mayday call from the boat and told emergency dispatchers that they couldn't rescue Andrew Brinkley because the engine had failed.

The Coast Guard launched an 87-foot cutter from the Humboldt Bay station; two helicopters from Air Station San Francisco; three 47-foot patrol boats from Station Bodega Bay; and a C-130 rescue airplane from Air Station Sacramento to help in the search.

Fu said the boat's radio also malfunctioned, further hampering the search for Brinkley. He said the crew of the Fat Chance activated the vessel's emergency position-indicating radio beacon to alert the Coast Guard of its position.

About 9:08 a.m., one of the helicopter crews spotted the sailboat approximately 35 miles west of Point Reyes. The Coast Guard then requested assistance from nearby vessels and a tanker, the Valdivostok, responded to help with radio calls.

The helicopter crew spotted Andy Brinkley about three miles northwest of the Fat Chance at 12:23 p.m. Tuesday and hoisted him out of the water. Crew members performed CPR, but he was pronounced dead at the hospital.

Tillett piloted the boat back to shore with the other two boys on board.

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