1 killed, 4 missing in yacht grounding off San Francisco
Boats in the J105 class sail in the Rolex Big Boat Series regatta hosted by the St. Francis Yacht Club on September 10, 2011 in San Francisco, California.
One sailor is dead and four others missing after a powerful wave hit a sailboat during a race near San Francisco early Sunday and the craft hit rocks attempting a rescue, the Coast Guard said.
The 38-foot yacht named Low Speed Chase, with an eight-member crew, was racing from San Francisco Bay around the Farallon Islands when it ran aground, the Associated Press reported.
"They turned the boat around to go rescue those people and they got hit by another wave," sending the boat onto rocks, the AP quoted Coast Guard Petty Officer Levi Read as saying.
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A Coast Guard helicopter, a cutter and a smaller boat were searching the waters around the islands, 27 miles west of San Francisco, for the missing crew.
According to the San Jose Mercury News, Low Speed Chase was one of at least 15 yachts registered for the race in ice-cold waters.
The Coast Guard said it would continue searching through the night, as long as there was a chance of finding survivors.
CNN cited the Yacht Racing Association of San Francisco Bay as saying three rescued crew members were retrieved from the Farallon Islands.
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