Fishing boat aground near Bodega Bay

Aleutian Storm’s owner, watching his fishing boat stuck fast in the sand at South Salmon Creek Beach, didn’t want to talk to a reporter. His livelihood was aground, out of commission and, despite its sturdy build, in some peril.

His 58-foot vessel had run aground near Bodega Bay late Friday night — all four of the crew aboard got off safely, the Coast Guard said — and Chris Fox was waiting for a tugboat he’d hired to arrive from San Francisco.

The plan was to wait until about midnight when the tide was at its highest, and tow the boat back out to sea. If that didn’t work, they would take another shot at the next high tide about 10:30 a.m. Sunday, said Coast Guard Lt. Natasha Kenney, standing on the beach as occasional onlookers wandered by.

Kenney said she was “hopeful” the plan would work. The 57-ton Aleutian Storm had earlier been rocking a bit, indicating it was not “hard aground,” she said. And the boat was not made of fiberglass or wood.

“This one’s made of steel,” with a double hull. “She’s got a fighting chance,” Kenney said.

Fox confirmed there was no catch aboard — a shortened Dungeness crab season started Jan. 18 — and declined further comment.

"If you lost your house, if you lost your means of making a living, all of that is similar to what's happening,“ said Dick Ogg, a veteran fisherman who is president of the Bodega Bay Fishermen's Marketing Association. ”Chris works so hard. He’s such a good person and it’s just devastating to see something like this happen.“

Ogg said he didn’t know why Aleutian Storm, which is based in San Francisco, went aground, or who was skippering it when it happened, and didn’t want to speculate about either.

"One never knows what the circumstances are, and it's not my business. It's just unfortunate that this kind of thing happened,“ he said. ”Whoever was driving, whoever was in charge of the boat, he's the only one that knows.“

He had been out Friday night fishing, too, Ogg said, and it “had been miserable.”

“There was probably close to 20 knots of wind and, you know, it had been building and it just was nasty,” he said.

Coast Guard Lt. Christopher Payne said the incident — which was reported at 11:13 p.m. Friday — is still under investigation. The boat was believed to be holding about 1,500 gallons of diesel fuel and, at about mid-afternoon Saturday there were no signs of spillage.

On Friday night, Gino DeGraffenreid, battalion chief at Gold Ridge Fire District, was among the first at the scene, which drew a response from a Coast Guard boat and helicopter, the Sonoma County Sheriff’s Office Marine Unit, a CHP helicopter, California State Parks’ rangers and the Sonoma County Fire District.

The CHP helicopter airlifted him from the Bodega Dunes parking lot to the beach along with equipment to be used in the event of a water rescue, said DeGraffenreid, who described a nerve-wracking situation.

“The vessel was in the surf, and it was pretty precarious. It was being thrown about by the waves,” said DeGraffenreid. “We had initial contact with the captain and the crew, and they hadn't given up on trying to right the vessel. And after about 10 minutes, and a few pretty good rogue waves, it became apparent to them that they were going to have to abandon their ship.”

The Aleutian Storm was listing hard to starboard (as it still was Saturday afternoon) and being battered by waves, and rescuers had to help crew members make about an 8-foot leap from the bow to the beach, DeGraffenreid said.

“It wasn't a lot of room for error,” he said.

“I think more than anything it showed the strength between the local, the state and the federal government partners, when everybody comes together it’s really incredible what can get done,“ the battalion chief said. ”Everybody played an instrumental role.“

Staff Writer Mary Callahan contributed to this report. You can reach Staff Writer Jeremy Hay at 707-387-2960 or jeremy.hay@pressdemocrat.com. On X (Twitter) @jeremyhay