On Monday, Captain Tony Olson of Vessel Assist San Diego assisted the Intrepid to the customs dock at Shelter Island in San Diego Bay so that Zac Sunderland could clear customs and get some repair work done on his boat (Tony also brought Zac a burger and fries from Mc Donald’s).

This morning Tony and Jim Wilson, a local mechanic, performed some engine repairs on Zac’s Islander, “Intrepid”, at the Shelter Island transient docks so that Zac could get underway and finish his journey.

The guys from Vessel Assist stopped by again to chat with Zac, give him a Vessel Assist San Diego shirt, and wish him luck on the completion of his trip.

Zac is planning to depart within the hour and finish his attempt to become the youngest solo circumnavigator. He is scheduled to arrive in Marina Del Rey early Thursday morning.

You can read more about Zac at his website zacsunderland.com

Zac preparing to depart San Diego

Zac's Islander 'Intrepid'

Zac preparing for his final leg

     56' yacht sinks after being dropped from delivery ship

Captain Lamb, underway toward the shipping terminal, cranked the “Shelter Island” up to 31 knots hoping to get there before the yacht could hit the bridge or possibly another vessel. Soon after the first call the second call came in, the delivery crew said the boat was listing hard and might sink. Robert thought that perhaps an exhaust hose had not been connected at the factory and the boat may be taking on water. He was not informed that this vessel was actually dropped from the ship’s crane. Captain Lamb arrived on scene 8 minutes after the first call with pumps ready to go but the stern of the yacht was already underwater. Another Vessel Assist boat arrived on scene shortly after with additional pumps but there was no way to keep the boat afloat. Robert instructed his Captains to pull the yacht into shallow water and clear of the main channel. About 30 minutes after the yacht was dropped it sank in 35 feet of water just outside of the Naval security zone in front of Vessel Assist San Diego’s main facility.

Robert mobilized his crew and they immediately loaded salvage and haz-mat gear onto the “Vessel Assist Coronado”, the “Shelter Island”, and the “Harbor Island”. Captains Tony Olson, Travis Basom, and Shane Thompson were dispatched to dive on this job just as they were returning from a salvage they had performed in Marina Del Rey. A big issue when dealing with a salvage of this magnitude on a busy Saturday afternoon is having enough crew to perform the salvage while still tending to the rest of the Vessel Assist members needing assistance in the San Diego area (Vessel Assist was able to assist 17 other vessels and perform another salvage that same day).

The challenges with raising the new yacht were tough:

First, dry, the yacht weighed approximately 95,000lbs but after the sinking it was, obviously, full of water …so having enough float bags was critical.

Second, the yacht suffered enough damage to sink in under 30 minutes. This meant that the holes were significant in size possibly in number.

The strategy was to get the yacht to the surface using over 100,000 lbs of lift with float bags and tow it awash (partially submerged) to Marine Group Boat Yard to haul out. Keeping 14 float bags inflated for the 1 knot tow was crucial to the success of the operation.

As the divers attached float bags Vessel Assist’s riggers, Michael Greer and Tom Butler, rigged lines to bags and prepared the air hoses for the lift while Robert worked on the logistics of raising the 50ton yacht from the bottom of the bay. Another issue was that this 50 ton yacht sank into the sticky mud making the yacht even more difficult to raise. This phenomenon is commonly referred to as “mud sucked”. Additional flotation had to be used to overcome the grasp of the mud.

    56' yacht raised in the darkness of night

The tow would have to be a race against the tide. 1.2 knots was the best speed they could make while towing the vessel with just the roof out of the water and 15′ of vessel underwater. Captain Eric Lamb had to skirt the right side of the channel just in case any of the lift bags blew out during the stressful tow. In all, five bags were lost but Robert had planned for loss and still had plenty of flotation when the boat arrived at the boatyard.

Once in the boatyard, Vessel Assist used three boats to maneuver the yacht, in tight quarters, to the Travelift. From there a forklift and man power were used to maneuver the yacht into position for the final. Because the tide had now turned they lost the very small window to get the yacht out of the water and would have to secure the vessel and wait until the Sunday when they could rig cables to pull the vessel up high enough to place lifting straps under the hull. On Sunday, after several hours of technical preparation, the lifting straps were put into position and the yacht was raised incrementally while Vessel Assist used pumps to remove as much water from the hull as possible during the hoist. Once the hull was raised completely out of the water the true damage to the yacht was visible as thousands of gallons of water poured out of the massive holes on the vessel.

Robert stated, “One bright note during this entire accident is that nobody was injured. It’s safe to say, this is one reason why a crew cannot be on a yacht while it is being off-loaded from the delivery vessel.”
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As the Vessel Assist crew sped away from the dock at 30 knots the moon disappeared into the ocean leaving the waters black and the shoreline even darker. Using the Garmin navigation system on board the Ocean Beach, Robert’s crew was able to find the grounded ski boat despite the extreme darkness and lack of coordinates. Once Vessel Assist reached the reported position they spotted lights flashing, so salvage diver Augustine Malfavon jumped into the water with the towline and swam to the beach. Only after getting all the way to shore did he realize that the lights were from people on a nearby beach and not those of the grounded vessel. Augustine, or “Auggie” as he’s known to his co-workers, had to swim back to the boat as the crew pulled in the 1200′ of line.

After a short search the Sea Ray was found in a shallow cove where the surf was breaking about 1200 feet from the beach. Once again Auggie entered the water while Travis Basom tended his line. The swim was long and the Salvage vessel was right in the breaking surf which made it very difficult for them to hold position and avoid pulling Auggie back as he swam in. By the time Auggie reached the beach and secured the towline to the Sea Ray, all 1200 feet of towline was payed out. With the tide coming in, the boat was starting bounce on the reef and drift toward the large jagged rocks on the cliffs. Auggie was able to secure the tow and the “Ocean Beach”, with twin 200 hp e-tech outboards, quickly pulled the Sea Ray into deeper water. After several heart pounding moments the 21 foot Sea Ray was delivered back to it’s owner with nothing more than a few scratches on the hull and a little damage to the outdrive. Given the fact that Vessel Assist San Diego was able to respond so quickly the Sea Ray was saved instead of being broken apart on Sunset Cliffs.

Jump Starts are the main call for service. Boaters anchor up to enjoy the day and watch the evening fireworks only to find that their batteries are dead. Vessel Assist is gearing up for the weekend and will have boats staged and ready for service. Things will really heat up if the fish happen to show up on the 4th. Sending two or three boats out 30 miles or more before noon will make for a busy day for the rest of the Vessel Assist San Diego fleet.

All of the Vessel Assist boats will be equipped with extra jumper packs and 30’ heavy duty jumper cables, extra fuel, and emergency pumps. Two High speed Vessel Assist boats, the VA Harbor Island and the VA Point Loma, will be staged and on patrol in San Diego Bay. Both boats are 40 knot response vessels. Vessel Assist Shelter Island and VA San Diego will be patrolling San Diego Bay ready to run on the long cases while VA La Jolla, the newest boat in the Vessel Assist Fleet, will be on patrol in Mission Bay along with the Vessel Assist Mission Bay. The Vessel Assist Coronado and The Vessel Assist Ocean Beach will be geared for any salvage activity that should arise during the weekend.

Along with the fleet, Vessel Assist will have four divers on staff and at least two mechanics. Robert Butler, president of Vessel Assist San Diego, says, “I think that the most important thing for a boater to do is to make sure that they have their Boat US/Vessel Assist membership current.“ If you are not sure if you’re current or not you can call Vessel Assist San Diego at 619-235-8273 and they will look up your membership for you. If needed, they can renew you (or sign you up if you’re not a member already).

If you have any questions regarding your coverage or a Vessel Assist membership you can email Robert at rob@vessselassistsandiego.com or call 619-235-8273. You can also sign up online

         40' sailboat aground in Oceanside

June 12, 2009, approx 2200: Vessel Assist San Diego was called to rescue a 40’ sailboat before it broke apart on the south jetty at Oceanside harbor. Captain Tony Olson and his salvage team mobilized their rescue boat, the “Vessel Assist Shelter Island”, adding additional towline and salvage gear before departing San Diego for Oceanside with the intent of saving the sailboat before it was broken apart on the jetty.

Meanwhile, in Escondido Captain Robert Butler, the president of Vessel Assist San Diego, and his crew member, Michael Greer, loaded a 4×4 truck with salvage gear and drove to Oceanside harbor to rendezvous with the “Shelter Island” and her crew. Once on scene Robert met with the owner of the sailboat and informed him that his rescue boat had a 1.25 hour ETA. The owner of the boat was not optimistic that his vessel would be saved but simply asked Robert to “try his best”.

The lifeguards who initially rescued the owner (and one other man) from the sailboat had deployed an anchor, giving the stricken sail boat a slight chance to survive the severe pounding from the surf as it inched closer and closer to the rocks during the one hour and fifteen minute wait for the salvage team.

The “Shelter Island” and it’s crew steamed at 27 knots on a dark moonless night towards Oceanside. As the boat made way, the crew readied the 1200 feet of ½ inch Amsteel blue line that they would use for the job, while salvage diver Shane Thompson readied himself for the dangerous night-swim through the pounding surf and treacherous currents. As the “Vessel Assist Shelter Island” approached the jetty spectators on the rocks and around the beach cheered, however Robert Butler knew that he and his crew only had one shot at saving the grounded sailboat.

Because of the shallow water, Shane had to swim the entire 1200 feet of line to the boat. As he prepared to begin his swim a set of waves pushed the sailboat to within a few feet of certain destruction. The seemingly long 15 minute swim resulted in Shane finally getting the towline to the grounded sailboat. Once at the boat Shane was faced with the daunting task of boarding the sailboat in the pounding surf without getting crushed by the boat as it surged in the waves, while at the same time trying not to let go of the 1200 feet of towline that had the stress of the currents and outgoing tide pulling against it. Like a scene from a Jackie Chan movie, Shane Thompson scaled up the bow of the boat with perfect timing and with his remaining strength, he was able to jump on board. His next big objective was to attach the towline to the boat in a manner that would allow Captain Olson, operating the “Shelter Island”, to pull with maximum horsepower yet not chafe or part the towline.

Salvage diver Shane Thompson aboard the 40' sailboat

The towline was guided through the bow roller, pinned in place, then tied around the anchor windlass and finally, to a bow cleat. Robert ordered his salvage crew to “clutch forward” so that they could maintain a strain on the towline allowing him to examine the “attitude” of the sailboat and how it would react as it was towed from the beach. Cranking the engines up to 1/3 power, the sailboat to rotated and was repositioned away from the rocks. With the tide now one hour past high Robert realized that time was against him. He ordered ½ power and the sailboat surged and bounced around but would not move. He then ordered ¾ power and you could hear the turbo-chargers on the “Shelter Island” kick in, yet there was still very little movement and almost a ¼ mile to go before the sailing vessel would be in deep enough water to float on her own. At this point Robert ordered the “Shelter Island” to go ahead full-power (which is rare when ungrounding boats). This was a dangerous and very advanced maneuver for the “Shelter Island” and her crew because of the “tripping” danger caused by the cross swells (”tripping” is when the tow line angle and the pitch of the salvage vessel could potentially cause her to be pulled from the side and rolled over). Captain Olson’s expert boat handing skills kept the “Shelter Island” safe as he used the full power of his towboat in this awkward and dangerous situation.

The sailboat lunged forward inches at a time as each wave passed under it. About 30 minutes in to the pull there was a loud pop and Robert’s first thought was that their towline my have snapped. He ordered “all-stop” so that he could investigate the situation and found that the bolts holding the anchor windlass had broken but the bow cleat was still holding. He decided that they were at a point of no return and had pulled the vessel far enough away from the rocks to where he was comfortable that if they lost the cleat, they could reattach the towline and wait out the tide for a second pull attempt during daylight hours. Captain Butler ordered a gradual climb back to full power, dragging the sailing vessel over the shoals until she floated off. The small crowd remaining on the beach cheered as the boat disappeared into the darkness.

Once in deep water the salvage crew had to deal with 300’ of chain the 40lb anchor that was previously holding it in place. Due to the urgency of getting the sailboat into the harbor to deal with any potential water coming into the boat they chose to cut the anchor chain. Captain Olson then towed the boat into the safe haven of Oceanside harbor. Once the sailboat was secured at the dock the salvage team was able to get into the cabin and perform a bilge check which confirmed that the boat was not taking on any water and was, considering what it had gone through, no worse for the wear. Butler thought his job was complete until he was informed that the boat yard would probably not be able to accommodate the twin masted sailboat. At this point the owner requested that his boat be towed to The Marine Group boatyard in Chula Vista since that was where he had previously had work done on the boat.

After a cup of coffee for Tony and his crew member Travis Basom, they towed the boat to San Diego without further incident. After the salvage Robert Butler stated, “In my 20 years of commercial salvage this was the closest I have ever seen a boat get to complete destruction and be saved with minutes to spare.”