Boaters, beware: spring brings balmy temperatures to Tomales Bay, but also heavy winds. April has seen back-to-back boating accidents that have deployed emergency water rescue teams from multiple public agencies, though officials report it is nothing out of the ordinary for the season.
On April 9, air, land and sea emergency personnel from the National Park Service, Sonoma and Marin County Sheriff’s Offices, the Marin County Fire Department and California Highway Patrol reported to a scene near Lawson’s Landing, where clammers returning from a sandbar were struggling to get back to shore as the motor on their small boat was no match for the winds. Four survived and one man, a 29-year-old from Sacramento, died in the water.
On April 12, the same team joined the Coast Guard in a rescue south of Hog Island, where heavy wind chop had capsized a group of boaters who may have been fishing, as well as a private boat that had attempted to rescue them. All five victims had been in the water, but all survived.
On April 20, C.H.P. and Sonoma helicopters patrolled the bay looking for five lost members of a 15-person private kayak group, separated during the gusts that C.H.P. flight officer Shaun Bouyea reported were up to 35 miles an hour. The copters coordinated with law enforcement and other personnel to help reunite the party, which had not gone out with a company.
Mr. Bouyea said his team flies between four and eight hours a day, circling the area year-round: air response time for the bay can be as short as 10 to 15 minutes. Boats or jet skis operated by Marin County Fire and the Coast Guard station based in Bodega Bay aim for the same response time.
Marin County Fire Battalion Chief Jeremy Pierce said the agencies follow a coastal access incident response plan that was implemented in 2014 to address growing visitation in the area; Homeland Security has awarded them two grants, each for $50,000, since 2013 primarily for equipment. The program involves more specialized training for personnel stationed in the area from Tomales Bay down the coast to the Golden Gate Bridge.
“We started having an extreme increase in visitor usage around 2010 in the Point Reyes National Seashore and the Golden Gate Recreation Area, and all the surrounding areas,” he said. “Our numbers of calls went up dramatically, for medical emergencies, car accidents, lost hikers, people falling off of cliffs—everything.”
Each agency conducts its own in-house training. Chief Pierce said that currently about half of his 85 employees are trained in water rescue, the largest representation from the various personnel that respond. “Not everyone can do this,” he said. “We look for surfers, fishermen, people who have a preexisting relationship to the water. Maybe they are just athletic and know how to swim.”
The chief emphasized that Tomales Bay is considered one of the most dangerous areas of the California coastline. In 2014, there were 77 rescues and 14 fatalities in and around the bay—a peak year. Since then, “Fatalities have gone down, though calls have not,” said Chief Pierce, who said that they are currently averaging one water rescue a week.
Another Marin County Fire Battalion Chief, Bret McTigue, told the Light that the financial burden felt by victims varies. Unlike the private medical helicopters operated in the region typically by REACH Air and CALSTAR Air Medical Services, C.H.P. and Sonoma sheriff’s helicopters do not bill for rescues. Chief McTigue said if someone needs to be transferred to a hospital, the public agencies can do so, though the private companies are preferable because they are staffed with more medical personnel. A lift can cost up to $20,000.
Chief McTigue said this April has seen a typical number of calls; there are always a few more per week during the spring. He attributed this to the flush of nice days bringing more people out.
Chief Pierce laid out three reasons why Tomales Bay possesses such a threat. Heading north out of the mouth, a shifting sandbar can surprise boaters with large waves. “What looks benign [can become] a 10-foot wave that can capsize a 20-foot boat,” he said.
He added that “boaters that travel in from Sacramento and Elk Grove travel two to three hours to put a boat in the water. They might not be familiar with the sandbar, and they might see something they don’t like, but they’ve also driven those hours and want to go out.”
The 180 boat-in campsites on the western shore of the bay pose their own danger. Visitors who paddle in to the sites to spend a Saturday night can find themselves forced to paddle back on Sunday afternoon through high winds. If their kayaks capsize, Chief Pierce said, “they end up without a boat in the middle of the bay, dumped over and floating in 54-degree water.” He noted that those who wear life jackets have a much higher chance of survival.
The last big threat comes from people using inadequate transportation—such as blow-up rafts and kayaks that can’t withstand the conditions—often for what seems like a short trip on the bay.
Chief Pierce said the kayak companies that service the bay are typically not the problem: their guides are well trained and they intervene when renters want to go out on tricky weather days.
Jeff Quigley from Blue Waters Kayaking, the only company with a bayside retail shop, said they often shut down in the spring. The company was closed due to wind conditions on the three days in April when the water rescues occurred.
“We just don’t go out if the conditions are dangerous, and sometimes do have to deliver that bad news,” he said. “It happens a lot in the spring: it’s an extremely windy time of year here, especially in the afternoon.”
Mr. Quigley said Blue Waters also does not let people go out unguided if they have no previous kayaking experience. They often recommend renters take open-deck kayaks that are easier to handle if they tip over, and do not allow people to cross the bay at all without a guide.
For links to weather data, and advice for planning a safe trip on Tomales Bay, visit the National Park’s webpage on boating, nps.gov/pore/planyourvisit/safety_boating.htm