A California man was rescued after his 50-foot sailboat was struck by a whale while he
was sailing alone about 40 miles off the coast of Mexico.
The impact from the collision disabled the sailboat’s steering and the vessel began taking on water late Tuesday.
Max Young, 67, a retired Sacramento high school teacher, quickly stuffed a mattress into the hole in the sailboat’s hull and activated several pumps. Young was “trying to bail out water as fast as he could, because he wasn’t sure how long it was going to take to be rescued,” his wife, Debra, told The Associated Press.
Young also activated his EPIRB, an emergency radio beacon, around midnight which alerted the Coast Guard.
“The safety equipment he had on board allowed us to find him very quickly. It was a big reason why we were able to rescue him,” said Petty Officer 2nd Class Pamela J. Boehland.
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