SIGHTSEEING BOAT SINKS OFF POINT LOMA

By Henry Fuentes, Staff Writer

A pleasure cruise around San Diego Bay ended yesterday with the rescue by air of 11 persons from the sinking Bahia Belle in rough seas off Point Loma.

There were no injuries reported among the four crew members and seven passengers airlifted to safety by a Coast Guard helicopter.

The passengers aboard the 65-foot wooden-hull vessel were employees or relatives of employees of the Bahia Hotel, one of several hotels along the bay that regularly use the boat as a sightseeing pleasure craft. The Bahia Belle, which recently completed a week in drydock for repairs, is a mock sternwheeler.

Although the hull of the vessel was being towed to shore last night, the superstructure, including the top three decks, was drifting, Coast Guard officials said.

It was not immediately known what led to the sinking of the flat-bottomed vessel, but Coast Guard officials said a wooden plank under the water line may nave opened up and given way. The boat began taking on water about three-quarters of a mile south of Point Loma in open seas, an area that had 5to 7-foot swells at the time.

The rescue was made an hour and a half after the Bahia Belle’s 3 p.m. departure from the Bahia Hotel.

Despite the rough weather, Bob Parsons, the 47-year-old captain of the Bahia Belle said he had made the same cruise before under similar weather conditions. “I started to lean and the boat felt sluggish — that’s how I knew we were sinking,” Parsons said after giving his report to Coast Guard officials.

The trip to Point Loma and back to Mission Bay, Parsons said, normally takes about two hours.

The Coast Guard operations center received the first report that the Bahia Belle was in trouble at 4:20 p.m. from a pleasure craft that had pulled alongside the stricken vessel, Coast Guard operations reported.

That pleasure craft was greeted with cries for help from the passengers and crew, most of whom were huddled together on the top deck of the Bahia Belle. All were outfitted with lifejackets.

A Coast Guard helicopter returning to the air station from a routine search and rescue mission was diverted to the Bahia Belle, and at 4:30 p.m., 10 minutes after receiving the initial distress call, the rescue began.

When the aircraft arrived at the scene, a red distress flag already had been raised and a smoke signal had been launched. The Bahia Belle did not carry a radio and was not equipped to sail in open seas, Coast Guard officials said.

From the moment the helicopter arrived at the scene, it took only 17 minutes to hoist the passengers and crew aboard the helicopter. A basket was used to lift each of the 11 from the vessel, and at 5 p.m. all stepped safely on land outside the Coast Guard air station hanger.