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Three people are trapped on the boat and have so far refused the Coast Guard's assistance, said Petty Officer Tom McKenzie, a Coast Guard spokesman.
Rescue crews from the Coast Guard and local fire department have been monitoring the boat since it was spotted around dawn, but Pacifica police will now be responding to the scene, Fraass said. Police believe the boat was stolen sometime around 1 a.m. Monday.
"They're coming up with their game plan of what to do now," Fraass said.
I wonder what kind of feelings go through a person's head when they can watch their 80-foot luxury sailboat getting beaten to death in the surf while the thieves stand on it.
How often to people get away with stealing large beautiful boats?
I wonder what kind of feelings go through a person's head when they can watch their 80-foot luxury sailboat getting beaten to death in the surf while the thieves stand on it.
Maybe they take the stolen boat off the coast, strip it, transfer the stuff to a waiting boat, sink the stolen boat then sell the stuff at a nautical flea market. Seems like a lot of work and risk for a few thousand dollars of gain. Maybe they wanted it for drug running.
They refused CG assistance. Last time I knew, the CG is in control and should take this vessel by force. They have no problem boarding boats that are not foundering.
Looks like the boat was an Oyster 82. At least they had good taste. That's what, a $3M boat?
I would bet that the people had some connection to the owner or crew, at least enough to believe they had a window of time to skedaddle. I think this was an attempt to get the boat south before anyone took notice. Sometimes you'll see joy rides, but no one takes an Oyster 82 out the Golden Gate at 1 a.m. for a quick joy ride. There must have been a larger scheme at play.
Genius pirates had AIS turned on. Their entire track is viewable. They were running over 7 knots when they hit the beach. Lucky thing for them they dint hit rocks and die.
(03-04) 14:13 PST PACIFICA -- Two men and a woman packed pizza and beer aboard a luxury sailboat in a Sausalito marina, stole it in the middle of the night and made it as far as Pacifica before the vessel ran aground 20 yards off a beach Monday, authorities said.
The three then spent hours being tossed about in the waves in the 82-foot Darling as authorities, alerted to the theft by a man who recognized his boat on the TV news, waited with guns drawn on the beach.
The three suspects, showing signs of queasiness, were pulled off the boat onto jet-skis by San Mateo County sheriff's deputies about noon and transferred to the custody of Pacifica police on Linda Mar Beach.
All three were arrested on suspicion of possession of a stolen boat, said Pacifica police Capt. Joe Spanheimer. They were not immediately identified.
When they boarded the Darling, authorities found cases of beer, pale ale and a pizza box, said Jeff Wadkins, a state parks lifeguard and park ranger who was one of those to scour the vessel. "There looks like there was quite a bit of alcohol drinking onboard," he said.
The contents of the boat were in disarray, including knocked-over shelves, apparently because of the rough surf, Wadkins said, and the three suspects showed signs of seasickness.
One of the men limped, apparently because he uses a prosthetic leg.
The focus will now turn to trying to remove the boat before it breaks apart, said Eric Laughlin, spokesman for the California Department of Fish and Wildlife. There were no immediate signs of any oil spill, Laughlin said.
"Right now, the boat seems to be staying together, which is good news," Laughlin said.
Rescue crews headed to the beach before dawn as the first hint of daylight revealed the Darling, stuck in the shallows.
Before authorities realized the boat had been stolen, a Coast Guard swimmer was lowered from a helicopter and delivered a radio to the people onboard.
The vessel's owner was watching news coverage of the incident, took a hard look at the boat bobbing in the waves and realized it was his, said Sausalito police Sgt. Bill Fraass.
"He had the TV on when he realized that his boat had been taken and called us," Fraass said.
The owner, John Fruth, was in a parking lot on the Pacifica beach when the suspects were taken off his boat. He declined to comment.
The boat, built by English builders Oyster Marine, has sailed around the world, according to an online description. Police believe the boat was stolen from the Sausalito Yacht Harbor sometime around 1 a.m. Monday.
The three people onboard initially refused the Coast Guard's assistance, said Petty Officer Tom McKenzie, a Coast Guard spokesman. Once they discovered the boat had been stolen, Pacifica police officers joined the Coast Guard and local fire department on the beach.
Officers stood on shore with their guns drawn a little before 11 a.m. and used a megaphone on a police SUV to order those onboard to leave the boat's cabin and step onto the deck. The three were taken off the boat an hour later.
San Francisco Chronicle staff writer Henry K. Lee contributed to this report.
Will Kane and Vivian Ho are San Francisco Chronicle staff writers. E-mail: wkane@sfchronicle.com, vho@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @WillKane, @VivianHo
A Charter Crew does not necessarily live on the boat. They more often come aboard when there's a charter.
Judging from the photographs, the thieves look like the typical doped up street people one very often sees in Sausalito (and for that matter the "Hashberry" in the City and lower Telegraph Avenue in Bezerkely), commonly the remaining refugees from the "summer of Love" that turned on, tuned out, and never got the Memo that the times they were a change'n.
I took a look at the ais track. From what I looked at, the track starts outside the gate, heads south clearing the left coast, then makes several zigzag back and forths, then continues on a course strait for the beach.
Question-
What was all the zig-zaggy about?
It looks like a mob drill. Somebody's hat blew off or the like, and then went back to get it, or tried. I suppose being drunk is good enough reason for the zig zags but there could be foul play, or some mutiny among thieves? I am just sayin', something happened there.
Don't over think it. They are thieves. They are dumb. They will have their day in court. Whomever insured that boat is going to pay mightily......Unless........
Sounds like they drove off without opening the raw water seacock.
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