Boaters rescued off Mendocino Coast

The captain of a chartered fishing vessel cruising off the Mendocino Coast radioed for help Thursday when the boat began taking on water, Coast Guard officials said.

A hose had detached from a bilge outlet, a glitch that allowed water to begin pouring into the vessel, said Justin Wilder, who captains the 32-foot Samurai for his business Hooked on Mendo Charters based in Noyo Harbor.

Wilder said he radioed for Coast Guard assistance and navigated toward another fishing boat in the area about a mile offshore from Westport. Wilder said he asked the captain of that boat, the Ambush, to take his six passengers on board so he could focus on the leak.

The Coast Guard’s 47-foot lifeboat crew based on the Noyo River arrived and transferred an engineer crew member onto the Samurai to use a de-watering pump and keep the vessel afloat, officials said.

Wilder said he cruised his boat back to the Noyo River without incident.

By noon Friday, he was back out on the water fishing for rock fish, hose in place and sound, he said.

“It was as simple as a hose clamp,” Wilder said.

You can reach Staff Writer Julie Johnson at 707-521-5220 or julie.johnson@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter @jjpressdem.