1 dead, 4 missing in yacht race accident

An image provided by the U.S. Coast Guard shows one of three crew members from the yacht Low Speed Chase being rescued from the Farallon Islands west of San Francisco Saturday, April 14, 2012. The sail boat carrying eight crew members ran aground during a race Saturday, killing one. Four others remain missing. / AP Photo/US Coast Guard

(AP) SAN FRANCISCO - One sailor died and four others were missing at sea after powerful waves swept them from their yacht during a 60-mile roundtrip race off San Francisco's coast, the Coast Guard said Sunday. Three other crew members were rescued.

The 38-foot Low Speed Chase was competing Saturday in the race from San Francisco Bay around the Farallon Islands, some 27 miles off the coast. Seas were rough, with waves running as high as 10 to 12 feet, when the vessel was hit by a larger wave that washed some of the crew members overboard, Coast Guard Petty Officer Levi Read said.

"They turned the boat around to go rescue those people and they got hit by another wave," sending the boat onto rocks, he said.

A Mayday call reporting the accident went out at about 3 p.m. PDT.

Coast Guard and National Guard helicopters and water craft rescued three crew members who were clinging to rocks, about 300 feet from their damaged vessel, Read said. The body of one crew member was pulled from the water.

All were wearing life vests and cold weather gear — equipment that gave rescuers hope in the search for the missing.

"There is the possibility that the other four were also in the same kind of gear," Read said.

Three helicopters, two cutters and a smaller boat were searching the waters around the islands, as well as shoreline areas early Sunday for the missing crew members.

Dozens of boats were registered for the Full Crew Farallones Race, in which boats sail from the St. Francis Yacht Club on San Francisco Bay around the islands and back, a 60-mile round trip.

The names of the eight crew members were not released, and there was no immediate word on the condition of the three survivors.

The Yacht Racing Association of San Francisco Bay expressed sympathy for the dead crew member and hope for those missing.

"We offer our thoughts and prayers to the family and friends of the missing crew in hopes they are returned home safely," the association said in a statement on its website.

The San Francisco Chronicle reported that the Low Speed Chase is based out of the San Francisco Yacht Club, located in Marin County's Belvedere Cove. The manager of the club declined immediate comment.

[tom_gwynn]

You talk about the cost to taxpayers, TLUnrine? Well, the people in the water *are* taxpayers. Their taxes help pay for things like the Coast Guard, and it's not unreasonable for them to expect to be rescued when things go sour. That is, after all, why we have a Coast Guard in the first place; to police, protect and guard our coastal waters. Beyond that, do you have any idea how much tax is assessed on those luxury yachts? They are paying their fair share and more.

[TLUnrine1]

If the people in these yachts are 1% then no, they aren't really taxpayers, they are tax-shelter users, who pay a less rate of tax, than any middle class citizen. If they can afford the boats, and their insurance doesn't cover not reading weather reports, then they need to pay for recovery efforts. Those helicopters costs much more to operate on a recovery mission then the tax on the yacht. If you can't sail, you can't swim, maybe stay on the golf course, and quit taking tax dollars away to recover ivy-leaque wanna=bee sailors.

[tom_gwynn]

No offense, TL, but you clearly are not a sailor. A 38 foot boat is nothing excessive, and I doubt these people are 1%-ers.... But it wouldn't matter if they were. They are Americans, and we protect our own. As entrants in this race I'm sure they were all excellent sailors and swimmers, but I don't care how big your boat is or how good you are, there is a sea and a condition out there that can sink you. The Titanic is certainly proof of that! As for golf courses... you add up all the emergency cases of heatstroke and heart attack, and it's probably equal or worse than offshore sailing. No sport is without risk.

[TLUnrine1]

Who pays for this rich-boy pleasure yacht races? Three helicopters, several boats - a similar incident with a racing yacht within the last two weeks.

Are tax payers paying for rescue and recovery? Especially in International Waters - - why should tax dollars been spent? Shouldn't an insurance company be billed?