Fishing Boat Finds Six Teen-agers Lost at Sea for 19 Hours

Six Orange County teen-agers who drifted helplessly for almost 19 hours in a small boat off the Southland coast were rescued unharmed Thursday and brought to Dana Point Harbor, where parents and friends had waited most of the day for word of them.

Their ordeal began about 3:30 p.m. Wednesday when the engine on their 19-foot powerboat coughed and died more than 20 miles off the coast on the way back to Dana Point from Santa Catalina Island.

It didn’t end until just before 10 a.m. Thursday when the crew of a commercial fishing boat picked them up about 24 miles west of Oceanside.

Once ashore at Dana Point, most of the tired, sunburned group insisted that their adventure “wasn’t too bad at all,” as one said, but at least two of them kissed the ground.

Those on the boat were Tim Bush, Robert John Mayer and Carrie Larson, all 17 and from San Clemente; Valerie Gay, 15, of San Clemente, and Sabrina Clark, 17, and David Curtis, 16, of San Juan Capistrano.

All are members of the Calvary Chapel in Capistrano Beach and had sailed to the island last week for camping and swimming.

A Coast Guard spokesman, Petty Officer James MacPherson, said that the supervisor of the group, Rod Mayer, 24, returned to the mainland last Saturday when a previously injured arm demanded medical attention.

Experienced Skipper

Mayer’s brother, Robert John Mayer, was the skipper of the small vessel for the return trip. His mother, Mary Mayer, a Laguna Beach artist, said that Robert John is an experienced boat operator. He had cleared with the harbor officials at Catalina’s Isthmus anchorage about 2 p.m. Wednesday, expecting to be in Dana Point about three hours later, she said.

But by 9:30 p.m., when the teen-agers had not appeared, several parents notified the Coast Guard at Long Beach. Air and surface searches were started within hours, MacPherson said. The Coast Guard also broadcast radio messages for all vessels to be on the lookout for the missing boat.

The boat had drifted about 25 miles off its original course when, according to Mayer, “we fired off a couple of flares to attract the attention of a fishing boat.”

The fishing boat, the Terry R 5 of Oceanside, skippered by Dick Riley, picked up the teen-agers and notified the Coast Guard by radio. The 82-foot cutter Camden, based at Terminal Island, hurried to the scene, took the teen-agers aboard and put a towline on the disabled craft.

Toughest at Night

About 4 p.m., when the Camden nosed slowly into the Dana Point Harbor entrance, families and friends on shore waved and shouted, and a Harbor Patrol boat carried the tired teen-agers to the dock.

Mayer said, “The engine just quit, probably from water splashing in on it,” when they were less than two hours out of Catalina.

“The toughest part was at night,” he said. “We just had to sort of huddle together under the canvas roof and try to keep warm. Luckily, we had plenty of food and water on board, and we all had life jackets.”

Then he got on his knees and kissed the ground.

Valerie Gay added: “It really wasn’t all that bad. It was kind of fun, in fact. But I did get seasick a couple of times.”

Mayer’s mother, who had been waiting at the dock most of Thursday, said the hours before the boat was located were by far the worst.

“You feel like you’re frozen in a very small space and can’t get out to do anything,” she said, then added with a laugh: “When he gets home I’m going to hug and kiss him--and then beat the tar out of him.”