Kino Bay Chronicle

"This is Rescue One"

People driving toward New Kino never forget their first view of a beautiful expanse of water extending from the clean, curving beach north and west toward distant Tiburon Island. Some days the bay is at its placid best, reflecting the blue sky and presenting an invitation to the fisherman anxious to get his boat in the water.

But there are days when waters in the bay are far from placid and even experienced boat operators may be caught by winds and angry waves. These operators troubles can be further compounded by motor trouble or fuel shortage.

This is why the first and most urgent business of the newly- organized Club Deportivo was to develop an effective search and rescue procedure.

Tom Turner, who first came to Kino Bay with his wife Siggie in 1961 after reading an enticing book about the Sea of Cortez, and a member of the Club's first Board of Directors, was given this Responsibility.

His plan, which has operated successfully ever since, with minor modifications, has served as a model for many other search and rescue operations.

Operated and financed by the Club but working in cooperation with the Port Captain and the Mexican government, Rescue One:

• Provides continuous tracking of boat trips in the Sea of Cortez and land vehicle trips in the nearby Sonoran Desert.
• Initiates searches and/or rescues when needed.
• Maintains a coordination center for any emergency- death, illness, accidents, police assistance, etc.
• Serves as a focal point for radio or telephone communication throughout the community.

If a boat is in trouble, a call to Rescue One is the first step in getting help that may save lives, or at the very least, a valuable boat about to be damaged on a rocky shore.

If Rescue One knows there are other boats in the vicinity of a boat in difficulty, one of them is asked, by radio, to give help. Help may mean no more than sharing fuel or giving help in starting a balky motor. It may mean pulling a dead-in-the -water boat away from threatening rocks or off of a sand bar. In some cases, it means a tow all the way home where Rescue One has mustered help to maneuver the crippled craft onto its waiting trailer.

Obviously, such a plan cannot work without two-way communication between Rescue One and the boats. VHF radios, which came into use in the mid-70's replacing citizen-band radios, are now used almost exclusively.

The search-and-rescue program cannot work, of course, unless a trained person monitors its operation from early morning until the last boat is accounted for at night. Dedicated volunteers in Club Deportivo's membership take turns at this often-stressful job. For fifteen years, Bud and Dorothy Staggs, with the help of many other volunteers, coordinated this service until, for reasons of health (Bud died in the summer of 1995) they were forced to relinquish their work to John and Colleen Danley, followed in April, 1997, by Doreen Rumball.

A volunteer with a good radio and tall antenna can operate the service from home. In addition, a second-floor office in the Club building is fully equipped for Rescue One work.

A sampling of logs tells something of the volume. In one year we checked, Rescue One logged 2,629 boat launches, with 8,241 persons on board, and supervised 49 rescues.

While many of these "rescues" involved minor assistance, some were dangerous cliffhangers which ended up involving many people, other boats, and sometimes search by private or government aircraft or larger ships. At least two Club members, sadly, have died at sea, but no one knows how many more would have perished without the life-saving help of Rescue One.

One of the more dramatic rescues was that of the "Maru", a boat which launched one morning in February, 1989, and anchored for the night off San Esteban Island, a few miles west of Tiburon.

A storm blew in during the night. The Maru slipped its anchor and then took on water which shorted out the batteries. The crew could neither start the engine nor call for help. The boat drifted south for several days and although searches by both sea and air were launched by Rescue One, the boat was not found until a U. S. Coast Guard plane, working in cooperation with the Mexican Navy, extended the search farther south. Fortunately, the men aboard had plenty of water and food but had about despaired of being rescued.

Again, in the spring of 1991, Rescue One got a call from a boat which had slipped anchor and piled up on the rocks at Partida Island, some 70 miles away. Two Club members, with large boats, launched immediately hoping to arrive in time to save the distressed craft. Rescue One stayed in touch with all concerned. On arrival, the rescue boats found that the first boat was beyond saving. They took on the luckless passengers and salvaged what gear they could. The grateful owner presented the Club with a check for $1,000 in appreciation of the efforts made to help him.

These are but two of the many rescues that have had a happy ending, at least in terms of human lives, and were a direct result of the Club's program. Tom Crutchfield, who had conducted his full share of rescues before the Club was organized, says: "Rescue One is the best thing that ever happened here."

An account of the Club's contribution to boating safety in the area would not be complete without a tribute to two more members whose personal services will not soon be forgotten. Polly Boyles was one of the Club's founders and its first and long-time secretary. Until she moved to New Mexico after the death of her husband, she was a constant source of aid to Rescue One operations.

Her home (much of which she built herself) sits on a bluff known as Windy Point, a mile or so west of the Clubhouse. This location affords a special view of the popular boating waters known as "The Narrows" as well as of other fishing areas around the off- shore islands. This vantage point, along with Polly's ability to read wind, water and weather conditions, enabled her to report valuable information not otherwise available to Rescue One. Many fishermen waited for her report each morning before deciding whether or not to launch. Her location also enabled her to relay radio messages to certain locations not easily reached by Rescue One. Otis Turner, recently in charge of Rescue One activities, now lives at Windy Point and continues the special help which the location makes possible.

At the other end of the waterfront, the late Sarah ("Sister Sarah") Walters performed a similar service. Her home, on a bluff two miles southeast of Old Kino and overlooking the waters around Alcatraz Island and toward Kino Point, made her observations in that sector extremely valuable. She, likewise, was frequently able to relay important messages to and from boats operating in the southern sector of the Bay.

At the Islandia Marina RV Park, Roy Kinsey ("Juana Loa"), long-time resident and Club member, performs invaluable service to visiting yachts and other boats needing help to find their way to mooring areas near Old Kino. Not only does he "talk them in" but in addition provides helpful information about fuel or other services available