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Posted by Max Bottomtime on May 30, 2011 at 17:35:30:
In Reply to: Re: Why we haven't been diving posted by ~eJ on May 29, 2011 at 23:34:42:
From the O.C. Register;
DANA POINT – One man is dead after he and three others had to be rescued from their boat off Strand Beach, officials said.
The man, identified as Mark Benet, 46, of Orange, according to the coroner's website, was pronounced dead at Mission Hospital Laguna Beach at 8:23 p.m. Sunday.
Benet was one of four aboard a power boat that had washed ashore at Strand Beach around 6 p.m. on Sunday, Orange County Fire Authority Capt. Greg McKeown said.
According to reports from the U.S. Coast Guard, personnel in their San Pedro office heard a brief, unidentifiable mayday call around 6 p.m.
Lifeguards from U.S. Ocean Safety and Laguna Beach located Benet at a rock outcropping adjacent to the beach, McKeown said.
An OCFA helicopter lowered a firefighter on a cable who was able to pull the man into a rescue basket. The basket was pulled up to OCFA paramedics in the helicopter where he was treated. He was flown to the Laguna Beach hospital.
A Coast Guard MH-65 Dolphin helicopter from Air Station Los Angeles rescued one man and two women who had been washed overboard, the Coast Guard said.
OCFA and Orange County Sheriff's Department divers found themselves in danger because of the high surf. At the time of the accident, waves were estimated to be between 9 and 10 feet high, according to the Coast Guard.
Deputy William Nelson from the Orange County Sheriff's Harbor Patrol said gale force winds were gusting up to 30 mph.
"I don't know if they lost power or how they got there," Nelson said. "But we've had a gale force wind warning of 25 to 30 mph. The swell is 5 to 6 feet out of the west."
According to the Coast Guard, none of the boaters were wearing lifejackets. This reminds me of the posts I've read from divers who go out in high surf with little to no vis, then taunt others who didn't dive by asking why they were sitting on their couch. The ocean doesn't care about arrogance or how skilled you think you are. There is no reason to go into the ocean when there are gale force winds or high surf.
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