CA Firefighters Rescue Kids after Wave Capsizes Boats

Jan. 11, 2021

A dozen children in a sailing class were tossed from several boats into Santa Cruz Harbor before firefighters on jet skis and nearby surfers pulled them from the water.

By Don Sweeney

Source The Sacramento Bee

Firefighters on jet skis and nearby surfers rescued 12 children in a sailing class in Santa Cruz County, CA, who were thrown into the water when a wave capsized their boats Sunday.

Rough seas capsized sailboats "like dominoes" during a sailing class in the mouth of Santa Cruz Harbor in California, a witness says.

Firefighters and nearby surfers reportedly rescued 12 children spilled into the frigid ocean during the mishap on Sunday.

A large wave hit four or five sailboats taking part in a children's sailing class at 4:33 p.m. at the harbor mouth in Santa Cruz, KPIX reported.

"Sail school was coming in and the whitewater just tumbled them, and they were just like dominoes flying through the water," said witness Anna Ritter, according to the station.

The capsized boats spilled 20 people into the chilly water, including 12 children who required rescue, The San Francisco Chronicle reported.

Firefighters, who already had two jet skis in the water because of the rough seas, and nearby surfers helped rescue the children, Santa Cruz County Fire Battalion Chief Daniel Kline told KPIX.

"No injuries," Kline said, according to the station. "Except for some wet, cold kids that needed to be handed back to their parents."

Elsewhere on the coast, searches continued for two people swept to sea by powerful waves in unrelated incidents on Sunday, The San Francisco Chronicle reported.

At 2:30 p.m., a San Jose man in his 30s was swept away by a wave while scrambling on bluffs at Point Bonita in the Marin Headlands with friends, the Golden Gate National Recreation Area reported.

Hindered by the strong surf, searchers in helicopters and boats looked for the man until nightfall, the agency said. They planned to resume the search Monday.

At 3:15 p.m. Sunday in San Mateo County, waves swept a man and woman wearing waders while searching for mussels along the shore into the ocean, the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection reported.

Witnesses rescued the man but the woman was "swept under the waves," firefighters said. A search continues for her.

A National Weather Service high surf warning was in effect on the Northern California coast through Sunday night, with waves of up to 29 feet or higher forecast, The San Francisco Chronicle reported.

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