Boat stranded at Strands Point

30 ft. Bayliner sits on Strands Point
after crash landing on Sunday evening
Photo by David McErlean

If you have been down to Strands Point in Dana Point in the last two day you are probably asking why there is a 30 foot boat sitting on the beach.

On Sunday, May 29, just before sunset, a 30 foot Bayliner, with four people on board, beached themselves on Strands Point after having engine trouble. While coming ashore one of the people on board fell overboard.

The surf conditions were hazardous with high surf advisories up and down the coast. With a strong current pushing south, the people were swept into an area known as Killer Dana. Killer Dana is a rocky point with underwater caves that are dangerous even in the calmest of conditions.

Boat on Strands Point with a cooler full of Beer
Photo by David McErlean

Reported by Erika I. Ritchie in the Orange County Register, "Lifeguards from U.S. Ocean Safety [Now OC Lifeguards] and Laguna Beach located Mark Benet, a 46 year old from Orange, at a rock outcropping adjacent to the beach, Orange County Fire Authority Capt. Greg Mckeown said.

An OCFA helicopter lowered a firefighter on a cable who was able to pull the man into a rescue basket. The basket was pulled up to OCFA paramedics in the helicopter where he was treated. He was flown to the Laguna Beach hospital."
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View from above Strands Point with boat
sitting on the beach
Photo by David McErlean

The boat now sits on Strands Point waiting to be taken away. After several attempts by Vessel Assist, the 30 foot Bayliner is still in the same place. Vessel Assist attempted to tow the boat back out to sea and back to the harbor to get it off the beach. Vessel Assist will be attempting to pull the boat off the beach again the night of Wednesday, June 1.