Two rescued after sailboat capsizes off Marin coast

Two people whose sailboat was damaged in high winds off the Marin coast Saturday afternoon made it to shore, where witnesses cared for them until a rescue team arrived.

The pair set sail from Bodega Bay and were traveling south ?to Drake’s Bay when strong winds broke the main mast ?of their sailboat and then ?their tiller. The wind pushed the craft ashore, where it capsized on Ten Mile Beach in the Point Reyes National Seashore, the CHP said.

When a rescue helicopter from the CHP’s Air Operations unit arrived, officers found several bystanders protecting one of the victims from fierce 40 to 50 mph winds, the CHP said.

They had taken cover behind a large log on the beach. The victim was taken to the Abbot’s Lagoon parking lot, where she was evaluated for moderate leg injuries by a ground ambulance team.

The second victim was found on the beach near the boat, lying down behind a large bush in the sand dunes, sandwiched between two bystanders who were protecting him from the high winds and blowing sand. He appeared to have no serious injuries but was airlifted to the parking lot for medical evaluation, the CHP said.

Bryan Marsh, one of the two sailors, said on Sunday that he was fine but his wife was in the ICU after suffering an apparent heart attack while in the water. She got sea water and sand in her lungs.

“I would just like to thank everyone who gave to us,” Marsh said in email to The Press Democrat.

Bystanders provided Marsh and his wife with their own dry clothes until they were rescued, CHP spokesman James Andrews said. The couple is from New York.

You can reach Staff Writer Meg McConahey at meg.mcconahey@pressdemocrat.com or 521-5204. On Twitter @megmcconahey.