Avalon Lifeguards Called ‘Heroes’ After Boat Rescue

A sailing lesson went extremely wrong in Avalon on Wednesday.

Eight teenagers and two instructors went out for a lesson from Avalon Yacht Club on the Boat named 'What Exit', according to 6 ABC.

But a combination of rough seas and a faulty boat motor turned the lesson into a rescue situation.

Avalon Sailboat Hits the Rocks

It was about 11 am on Wednesday when the Avalon Beach Patrol received a mayday call about a sailboat crashing into the jetty in Townsend Inlet near 8th Street.

The Avalon Yacht Club said the instructors never even put up the boat's sails in the rough waters, depending solely on the motor, until it failed, causing the boat to crash into the jetty.

The 10 passengers, who had been holding, went overboard with their life jackets on as the boat started to sink.

Avalon Beach Patrol to the Rescue

Matt Wolf, chief of the Avalon Beach Patrol, said as many as 40 lifeguards and first responders arrived on boats, jet skis, paddle boards, and swam in to save the day in an inlet notorious for rough seas.

Some of the passengers were shaken up, but everyone was successfully rescued.

Wolf said it was one of the wildest and most unusual rescues he has seen in his 29 years on the job.

There's not too many people or organizations who could pull off a rescue like that, the traand that's really a credit to our guards, the traising they have. Some of those lifeguards ...went above and beyond and were definately heroes down there."

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