Sailing boat Skipper lost in freak accident

by KGW/Sail-World Cruising on 13 Oct 2010 Who is the most important member of the crew to wear a life jacket or be harnessed on?

The weakest member? The youngest? Those who can't swim?

No, it's the Skipper! - the one whose most important in getting the sailing boat back to shore.

This was underlined by a tragic incident this week where all the crew, the skipper's own children, had life jackets on, but not their father.

The search is set to continue for a man who fell overboard while sailing with his three children this week. The family was sailing in their 65ft yacht, and the weather was calm. All the children, an 18-year-old girl, a 16-year-old boy and a 14-year-old boy, had their life jackets on, but their father, 46-year-old Arlie Hoefling, didn't.

Friends of the family recounted later that Hoefling had been at the helm of the yacht, called Bad Dog, at about 4.00pm, using the steering seat in the rear cockpit. A strong gust of wind caused the boat to heel suddenly. The steering seat Hoefling was sitting on tore from the deck of the vessel, sending him into the water.

The teens quickly dropped the sail and called the Coast Guard and tried to keep their eyes on him, but lost track after a few minutes.

A helicopter crew was deployed to search from the air and a 47-foot motor lifeboat team scanned the water. But the search was called off after sundown when rescuers failed to find any sign of the man.

The boat was piloted back to the dock by the teenagers with the help of the Coast Guard.

The incident happened while the family were sailing around Puget Island in the wide Columbia River between Westport Oregan State USA and Cathlamet in Washington State.

'It has ceased to be a rescue mission,' said Clatsop County Sheriff Tom Bergin, 'It is now just a search mission.'