Sonoma County Sheriff's helicopter crew rescues four people from a capsized boat in Point Reyes

A helicopter unit from the Sonoma County Sheriff’s Office was dispatched to Tomales Bay on Sunday at 2:35 p.m. after receiving a report of a capsized boat. The helicopter unit, which had just finished a water rescue demonstration at the nearby Bodega Bay Fisherman’s Festival, arrived in the area just seven minutes after receiving the report, according to the sheriff’s office.

The unit spotted the capsized boat in the middle of the bay, with two people sitting on the overturned boat’s hull and two other people clinging to its sides. The helicopter unit then initiated a “long line rescue,” a maneuver that typically involves loading a stranded person into a harness attached to a long rope dangling from the craft, which then carries the stranded person to safety.

The sheriff’s office said that a paramedic from the helicopter unit sat with the boaters as the rest of the stranded individuals were rescued one by one. The four boaters were then flown to a nearby home, where they were met by an ambulance from the Marin County Fire Department. Their condition as of Monday afternoon was unclear.

A video of the rescue shows the four boaters being rescued. One of those being airlifted from the water appears to tell the crewman that the group had been stranded in the bay for about 45 minutes.