A fisherman who went overboard without a life jacket prompted an hourslong U.S. Coast Guard search that was continuing Tuesday afternoon off Dana Point.
The Orange County Sheriff’s Department alerted the Coast Guard to an 18-foot Boston Whaler “active spinning in circles” 2 miles west of Dana Point about 11 a.m., the Coast Guard announced.
A 45-foot Coast Guard boat and two helicopter crews responded, along with sheriff’s air and water crews, finding one of two boaters who had been aboard the vessel. The boat was discovered unmanned.
The rescued boater was found about 2.5 miles from the boat, off Monarch Beach, according to sheriff’s Lt. Jeff Hallock. The boater said he and his companion had entered the water about 9 a.m.
The search for the second man was continuing, the Coast Guard said in a news release issued about 1 p.m. The missing boater was described as a 40-year-old fisherman last seen in a white shirt, blue jeans and without a life jacket.
The boat had been towed to Dana Point Harbor, Hallock said.
Anyone with information of the search was asked to call the Coast Guard Sector Los Angeles Command Center at 310-521-3815.