The Wreck of the Lazando la Brisa

Sadly, on Sunday, January 9, 2000, the S/V Lazando la Brisa struck an uncharted submerged piling in San Francisco Bay, near the entrance to Point Potrero Reach and began to sink.  Fortunately, quick response by (and not necessarily in this order), the Richmond Police Department marine patrol, the San Rafael Police Department marine patrol, the Marin County Sheriff's Department marine patrol, and the U.S. Coast Guard saved her from a watery grave.  

With nearly two feet of seawater covering her interior sole (floor), members of the above jurisdictions worked for more than an hour with gasoline powered pumps and repair materials to stem the onslaught of inrushing water.

She currently sits on the hard at Keefe Kaplan Maritime, Inc. (KKMI), in Point Richmond, California awaiting repairs.

A narrative of the adventure, The Wreck of the Lazando la Brisa, which will appear in the Marina Bay Yacht Club's monthly newsletter, The Signal, is shown below.

Feb 22, 2000 - The insurance company today, has decided to declare Lazando la Brisa a total loss.  As of this date, I've been informed that a total of at least 6 boats have hit that same piling during the eight weeks that it remained there.

The Story

The weekend started with a gloomy overcast.  My crewmember Dorothy, and I, even debated on whether to go out at all that day.  But reports of the sun shinning through the overcast in Sausalito prompted us to go ahead.  Besides, the plan was to meet some friends over in Sausalito.  So we cast off from Marina Bay's E Dock late on the morning of Saturday, January 8, 2000.  Rounding the General Warehouse where the Matson ships dock, we unfurled the sails and began a tack down Point Potrero Reach.  Passing channel marker #6, we turned to port for a starboard tack towards Treasure Island.  This was to eventually set us up for a port tack straight through Raccoon Strait to Sausalito.

The day went beautifully.  The sun began to poke through as we approached Richardson Bay.  The winds were light, and the temperature rose to the point that it was possible to be on deck without a jacket.  We furled the sails as we began to motor down the channel to Kappas Marina (the last house on the left).  We picked up our friends Terry and Laurel, from the S/V Sasha, a 33' Pearson Vanguard sloop.  We were out for a day of sailing and fun on the bay.

Later that day we saw S/V Nataraja (Eric and Emmy), as we tried to head East through Raccoon Strait.  We tried to catch up with them, but to no avail, because of the lack of wind, and the ebb tide bringing us to a halt in the middle of the Strait.  So we turned around and headed back to Sausalito, where we docked at the Sausalito Yacht Club.  We went ashore and did a little window shopping in town, finally returning to the boat late in the afternoon.  From there we motored to the anchorage abeam of the Spinnaker Restaurant, and we set the hook and barbecued our dinner.

Later that evening we took Terry and Laurel back to their boat at Kappas, then returned to the anchorage to settle down for the night.  What a terrific January day!

The next morning was Sunday, January 9th.  There was no wind.  Totally calm.  So we weighed anchor and decided to just motor back to Marina Bay.  We had some chores to do, so the quicker we got home the better.  As we approached the Contra Costa coast, we heard another boat talking on VHF channel 16 about taking on some water.  The Skipper said that his bilge pump was handling the flow, but that he wanted to get someone at KKMI (Keefe Kaplan Maritime, Inc.), to haul him out as soon as possible.  We really didn't pay too much attention, since it appeared that he had things well in hand, and we hadn't heard the beginning of his transmissions where he apparently had related what had caused the problem.  I learned later that it was the S/V Camelot who had been requesting an emergency haul out.

About a half an hour after hearing Camelot, I found myself approaching channel marker #4 at the West end of Point Potrero Reach at about 5½ knots.  We were in the middle of a flood tide, and I was just South of the marker, which was an unlighted small red buoy with the number 4 at the top.  As I got closer, I saw that I was going to drift into the buoy.  So I corrected to starboard, which was unusual for me, as I normally elect to go downwind, or down current from buoys in order to avoid a possible collision if something were to go wrong.

Suddenly, with the red #4 buoy about 20 to 25 feet off my port beam, a loud bang, and the boat literally came to a complete stop, with the bow dipping radically down.  I had hit something!  But what??  My mind raced.  It certainly wasn't the anchor chain for that small buoy!  I was in a state of disbelief, as I heard the boat's hull continuing to rub against what it had hit.  I called down to Dorothy to see if she was all right.  She had just gone below to get something for me.  She was in the aft cabin when she was knocked off her feet onto the floor.  Yes, she was OK.

Then I noticed it.  Water!  Water down in the cabin.  It was coming up through a floor hatch that had now opened.  It was a lot of water!  We both already had our inflatable PFD's on (which is always our rule when in the open Bay), so there was no panic there.  But look at all that water!  Dorothy came topside as I scampered below.  I was on the VHF radio on channel 16 in an instant.  I realized later that I never said "Mayday".  I just called the Coast Guard and told them I was taking on water.

After exchanging pleasantries with the Coast Guard, such as the number of persons on board, type of boat, and color (aren't 99% of them white?), I stated that we already had our PFD's on, and then...  And then, I really don't remember what I said.  I think I became really preoccupied with opening the center bilge floor hatch, so the water would begin flowing into the bilge, finding the manual bilge pump handle, and beginning to pump like crazy to try and keep up with the water.  No such luck!  I put my arm down into the storage compartment to see if I could feel where the water was coming from.  I could feel it rushing from the forward part of that compartment, but my arms weren't long enough to really get a good feel.  Forward of that was a cabin bulkhead and the forward head, with it's shower pan.  There was no way to get to the hole!

Dorothy called down and said that there was a police boat approaching.  Already?  It had only been just a few minutes since my radio call for help.  The water was just barely covering the sole of the main cabin, and you know, it didn't seem to be rising.  What it was doing though, was filling up the engine compartment at this time.

As the police boat approached, I replaced the floor hatch cover over the incoming water in order to slow some of the flow.  I called Dorothy down and instructed her to stand on the hatch cover while I went topside.  She later said that she thought that there was something inherently wrong with that picture!  But I went topside anyway, to help land the boat that was coming to our aid.  It was the Richmond Police Marine Unit in their inflatable!  And bless them.  They had a gasoline powered water pump!  In moments they were tied up to Lazando la Brisa, the pump was started, and we began evacuating water.

As I was surprised that the police had arrived so quickly, I asked them about that.  They responded that they were nearby helping the other boat that had hit the piling ½ hour before I did!

I relieved Dorothy.  She asked me what I wanted her to take topside to save.  I told her to just take my laptop computer, and whatever she wanted to take.  She ended up taking only my computer and her purse.  The police then transferred her to their boat for safety.

I then began placing the suction hose where it would do the most good.  But it wasn't enough.  The water was still rising.  Floor hatch covers were now floating. Soft drink and beer cans began rolling around the cabin floor.  They had floated up out of their storage places below deck.  Then, before I knew it, another rescue boat was alongside.  I didn't take the time to see who it was specifically, but they were certainly welcome, as they had another gasoline powered water pump!  The rescue boats kept on arriving at the scene.  I was too busy to see what was going on outside, but Dorothy told me later, that at one time, she counted seven rescue boats encircling Lazando la Brisa! Wow!

But the water kept rising!  Two Coast Guardsmen (one guy and one lady), jumped into the water with me below and began stuffing rolled bubble pack and other materials into the storage compartment to stem the flow.  Finally, when it had reached knee deep, throughout the entire boat, both forward and aft, the water stopped rising.  We were winning the battle!  We now had three gasoline powered and two electric powered water pumps going.

With the situation somewhat stabilized, I noticed that we had begun moving.  They had begun towing us.  I finally went topside through my aft stateroom hatch (not the normal way to exit from below), to see Lazando la Brisa surrounded by a small armada of boats moving slowly down Point Potrero Reach towards KKMI.  The San Rafael Police Marine Unit was providing the propulsion as she had replaced the Richmond Police Marine Unit on the port side. On the starboard was the Marin County Marine Unit.  To aft was the U.S. Coast Guard boat, and forward, taking the point was Dorothy aboard the Richmond Police Marine Unit.

When we arrived at KKMI, both Ken Keefe and Paul Kaplan, the owners of KKMI, were there to supervise the haul out of our boat.  But what?  They're waving us away.  Telling us to stand off while they haul out another boat first.  Whaddya mean wait!  We're sinking here!

Remember S/V Camelot?  Well, now the police were filling me in on what had happened to her, and what had happened to me as well.  It turns out that Camelot had hit the remains of channel marker #4, a 20" diameter steel piling that had recently been broken off at a weld, just below the water's surface.  Either a large ship, or barge had hit the channel marker some weeks before, breaking it.  The remains were visible at low tide, but not at mid to high tide.  I had hit the same piling just a half an hour after Camelot had hit it.  So Camelot, although not in as great a peril as Lazando la Brisa was going to be hauled out first.  After all. She had called first (kidding).  But really, they didn't have a large enough place to put Lazando la Brisa overnight, but they did have space for Camelot.  So they hauled Camelot and put her on the hard, and then hauled Lazando la Brisa, and left her hanging in the Travel Lift overnight.

As of this writing, I still do not know the total extent of the damage to Lazando la Brisa.  She obviously has a pretty good size hole in her hull. Much of her interior has been water damaged.  The auxiliary engine was idling when it went under water, causing it to hydrolock.  That resulted in a bent connecting rod.  I'm told that my generator will have to be replaced, as well as my water maker, my water heater, my inverter/charger, as well as various non immersible water and sump pumps for the showers, holding tank macerators, etc.  I was fully insured, but I've lost the use of my boat for somewhere between 3 and 5 months.

Afterwards, some suggestions were made to me as how I could have reacted differently to minimize some of the damage.  First, had I stopped the engine, it would not have ingested water.  Examination of the oil sump revealed that no water had entered there.  So it could have been OK.  Second, a collision repair mat would have been very helpful.  As a matter of fact, this is something I had planned on purchasing before I began cruising.  But lacking that, going overboard with my foul weather jacket, and using that to cover the hole may have greatly reduced the amount of water that came aboard.  Having said that, there are other considerations as well.  I would be leaving an untrained crewmember aboard who did not have the strength nor knowledge of the boat's systems in order to retrieve me from the water had something further gone wrong.

At any rate, I do expect to return to sailing following repairs to my boat.  I hope that this doesn't negatively impact my plans to cruise to Mexico this fall.  If it does, then my plans may just have to be postponed for a year.  I'm thankful that nobody was hurt.  I have a lot of praise for the help and assistance that was given to me by the officers and members of the Richmond Police Marine Unit, the San Rafael Police Marine Unit, the Marine County Sheriff's Marine Unit, and the U.S. Coast Guard.