A commercial fishing boat and a recreational boat ran aground and needed to be pulled off the beach in Ventura Jan. 30.
At around 11:45 a.m., tow boat service captains responded to a call from a commercial lobster boat that had run aground in the Faria Beach area, north of downtown Ventura, said Capt. Carson Shevitz of TowBoatUS Ventura.
The 36-foot commercial vessel was servicing a lobster trap and one of the lobster lines got caught on the propeller and the engine stopped working, Shevitz said.
All people in the boat were safe, he said.
The lobster boat was floated back into the water at high tide around 5:30 p.m. and was towed back to a repair facility in Ventura Harbor, he said.
At around 2:05 p.m., a tow boat service vessel saw a 24-foot recreational boat —”possibly dragging anchor”— just south of Ventura Harbor, Shevitz said.
By the time the service vessel arrived to assist, the recreational boat was “too close to the large surf” and Ventura Harbor Patrol deployed a rescue swimmer to help one person off the boat, he said.
Ventura Harbor Patrol was not immediately available for comment.
The boat ended up running aground on a rock jetty and “sustained major damage” before ending up on the sand, he said.
The vessel “was not seaworthy” and needed to be moved off the sand and onto a boat trailer to be taken back to the harbor on land, Shevitz said. The boat appeared to be “beyond repair,” he said.
There were no injuries or pollution from either incident, Shevitz said.
There was a “decent swell” and Friday ended up “busy,” he added. He said the tow boat service fields 800 calls a year.
This article originally appeared on Ventura County Star: Two boats run aground in Ventura amid ‘decent swell’ off county coast
Reporting by Staff reports, Ventura County Star / Ventura County Star
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