[UPDATE 6:07 p.m.: Video] Body of Sole Boater Recovered Off Crescent City

Stock photo of USCG training. [Photo by Mark McKenna]

Coast Guard Commander Josh Smith, chief of response, told Redheaded Blackbelt in a phone interview that residents alerted the Del Norte County Sheriff’s Office after spotting a small aluminum boat doing circles near Battery Point Lighthouse with no one visibly aboard. That report set off a multi-agency search involving the Sheriff’s Office, a Coast Guard boat from Station Chetco River in Brookings, Oregon, which covers Crescent City since the city has no station of its own, and a helicopter crew from Coast Guard Air Station Humboldt Bay.

Crews located the boat, at that time capsized and sinking, and used its registration numbers to track down the owner’s parents, who confirmed he had gone out alone, Smith said. A separate witness also came forward to say they had seen the boater launch by himself.

The helicopter crew spotted the man in the water and recovered his body Wednesday afternoon, Smith said.

The man had two life jackets aboard but was not wearing one when he was found, Smith said. He encouraged boaters to keep a life jacket on any time they’re on the water, since conditions can change fast and there’s often no time to reach for one once something goes wrong. He also pointed to emergency position indicating radio beacons, known as EPIRBs, as a tool that can make all the difference in a search, saying the devices “take the search out of search and rescue.” He urged boaters to leave a float plan with someone on land, including how many people are heading out and when they’re expected back.

Smith credited the residents who called in the unusual boat activity with getting help moving quickly. “Thank goodness people called it in,” he said.

The recovery adds a local, painful example to a pattern the Coast Guard tracks nationally. The agency’s most recent Recreational Boating Statistics report found that drowning caused about three-quarters of all boating deaths in 2024, and that 87 percent of those who drowned were not wearing a life jacket.

The victim’s identity has not been released at this time.

UPDATE 6:07 p.m.: A reader sent us this video footage of rescue attempt battery point lighthouse:

Earlier: 

Coast Guard, Del Norte Sheriff Searching for Boater(s) After Vessel Sinks Off Crescent City