Point Reyes Light - October 21, 2004
Schooner runs aground at Drakes Beach
By Jim Kravets
A seafaring Santa Rosa couple narrowly escaped with their lives after their 42-foot schooner wrecked Tuesday morning on Drakes Beach in Point Reyes National Seashore. Their vessel was the only casualty of the massive southern storm that struck the North Coast this week. Heavy rains and winds up to 60 mph forced the ship to run aground, Sue and Richard Aubrey, the vessel’s owners, told The Light.
Named "Sunshine" and registered in Bodega Bay, the schooner was anchored in the northwest area of Drakes Bay when the storm hit early Tuesday morning.
"At about 4 a.m. I checked the anchor and it was fine," Ms. Aubrey said. "Then I made a pot of coffee. It was getting nasty out there."
An hour later, the anchor broke, and the schooner began to drift.
"We started the motor and tried to keep [the boat] heading offshore into the wind. But an hour after that we ran out of fuel and the motor stopped," she said.
Husband & wife washed overboard
With the Aubrey’s visibility hampered by darkness, the schooner began to founder in the surf. A wave knocked the boat on its side throwing Richard Aubrey into the sea.
"The waves were huge. Over ten feet," Ms. Aubrey said. Her husband fought to strip off his heavy clothing, while his wife threw him life preservers and a rescue rope. The vessel righted itself briefly before another wave knocked it over, this time throwing Ms. Aubrey into the frigid water.
"The life rope was wrapped around my neck and I couldn’t get free," she said.
The pounding surf threw the couple and their schooner onto Drakes Beach, about 300 yards north of the visitors’ center. Without knowing where they were, the Aubreys climbed a low cliff and walked an hour – Mr. Aubrey without shoes – across open land and eventually, around 9 a.m., they found help at the Spaletta Ranch on Sir Francis Drake Boulevard.
The couple were seasoned sailors with over 40 years of sailing experience and have sailed many times to Hawaii and Mexico, Ms. Aubrey said. "Richard built the fiberglass boat himself ten years ago from boatbuilder John Alden’s design," said Bob Aubrey, Richard Aubrey’s brother who on Wednesday afternoon was assisting the salvage effort along with the couple’s 20-year-old daughter, Danelle.
Will have to drive to Florida instead
The Aubreys had rented out their Santa Rosa home and were en route to Florida via the Panama Canal when disaster struck.
"I guess now we’ll drive there," Ms. Aubrey said.
Specialists from Parker Salvage in Sausalito are now advising the couple and the Park Service how to safely remove the vessel. The boat may have a cracked hull and removing it from the beach is estimated to cost $35,000. According to a statement released by the Park Service, the removal will be billed to the Aubreys and the vessel was not insured. This is the fourth vessel to be stranded on a National Seashore beach in the last four months, the statement said.