Woman lost in surf trying to save dog

A 42-year-old woman was swept into frigid waters Saturday as she attempted to rescue her dog in rough surf near Gualala, just five weeks after another woman died in the waves trying to save her dog off the Sonoma Coast.

Coast Guard officials were continuing to search for the unidentified woman Saturday night, but said it was unlikely she survived.

Stormy ocean waters and waves that break unexpectedly are a constant danger on the coast, and a rogue wave was blamed for the death earlier Saturday of a 27-year-old man in Monterey.

"The California coast is especially rocky and there are a lot of sleeper waves," Coast Guard Petty Officer Jonathan Cilley said. "People need to be wary of the water."

Witnesses in Gualala reported seeing the woman disappear about noon in the surf off Gualala Point Regional Park just south of the Sonoma-Mendocino County line. A bystander out for a walk called 911 after he saw her chase her dog into the 52-degree water, Cilley said.

The Coast Guard, Sonoma County Sheriff's Department and state Department of Forestry launched an extensive search, but it was at least an hour before any rescue boats could reach the area, Cilley said.

Rescue teams conducted six searches of the area by boat and helicopter.

The woman is not a resident of the area and her name will not be released until her family can be located and her identity confirmed. The body of the dog that she tried to rescue washed up on the beach later Saturday.

She was the second person in five weeks to be swept off the Sonoma Coast while trying to rescue a dog.

On Jan. 12, also a Saturday, 19-year-old Ann Madden of Petaluma and her fiance had walked down from the overlook at Portuguese Beach north of Bodega Bay with their two dogs in tow.

Large waves engulfed the two animals and when Madden went in to rescue them, she was caught in the surf and drowned.

It was the third drowning at Portuguese Beach since 1987.

The Sheriff's Department said Saturday that "pets are to be on leash and under control at all times while on the beach in all park areas along the coast."

"Even attempting to rescue another person is extremely dangerous and one should not enter the water unless properly trained and equipped to do so," the department said.

Also Saturday, 27-year-old Christopher Partridge of Monterey was swept off rocks by a rogue wave in Monterey just after midnight. A Coast Guard search for him was suspended after 12 hours.

Partridge had been visiting the beach with his cousin when a wave knocked him off a rock, Cilley said.

You can reach Staff Writer Laura Norton at 521-5220 or laura.norton@pressdemocrat.com.