On February 21, 2005 at 0035 hours (12:35 A.M.), our office received a call on VHF 16 from the sail boat Four Sail.  The owner, Jeffrey Catlin, said his boat had broken free of his mooring and was now adrift.

    Mr. Caitlin’s boat was a 27-foot sailing vessel with no mast or motor.  Mr. Catlin is in fair health and has a prosthetic leg.  He advised us that he was not wearing the prosthetic leg at that time. 

    Mr. Catlin’s boat was located approximately one-half mile east of Stearns Wharf, in the anchorage area.  The winds were gusting to 40 knots from the southeast and the seas were eight to ten feet.  Officer Rick Hubbard and I responded on Harbor Patrol Boat #3 .  I was operating the boat and Officer Hubbard was going to be deck-hand/rescue swimmer.  As Officer Hubbard and I were headed towards the harbor entrance, we contacted both Fire and Police dispatch by radio to advise them that we were responding to a rescue call outside the harbor.  We also asked dispatch to recall an additional Harbor Patrol Officer, Sgt. Stetson (who was off duty).  He responded to the Harbor. Officer Hubbard and I radioed Mr. Catlin on his boat via VHF 16.  Mr. Catlin’s radio transmission was broken, but he did confirm he was loose from his mooring and moving fast towards Stearns Wharf.  As we approached the harbor entrance, we observed that the entrance was closed out with waves breaking up to ten feet.  As we exited the Harbor, waves were breaking over the top of our own boat, PB#3. 

    At 0045  hours (12:45 A.M.) we saw a red flare shoot off east of Stearns Wharf.  Mr. Catlin called us on the radio and said he shot off a flare.  We made our way out of the harbor and another red flare went up.  This time it gave us a better location of where Mr. Catlin was located.  We estimated that Mr. Catlin’s boat was 800 yards east of Stearns Wharf about 700 yards from shore.

    Officer Hubbard and I navigated PB#3 approximately one mile off shore before we could safely make our turn towards Mr. Catlin’s boat, due to the large seas.  After we made our turn we headed to the location where the last flare was seen. 

    We could see Mr. Catlin’s boat in the distance.  We could see that he was drifting at a fast speed towards Stearns Wharf.  We attempted several boat to boat transfers with PB#3, but we were unable to get close, due to the high seas and high winds.  We could see Mr. Catlin on the bow of his vessel, hanging on to the bow rail.  Officer Hubbard and I made two attempts to bring PB#3 up next to his boat, but this proved to be too dangerous.  Officer Hubbard and I determined that there was no safe way we were going to transfer Mr. Catlin from his boat to ours.  Both of our boats were moving rapidly to Stearns Wharf and the beach.  We determined that our only option to safely remove Mr. Catlin from his boat was to put Mr. Catlin in the water with a rescue swimmer and to swim Mr. Catlin to the beach.

    Officer Hubbard suited up into his wetsuit.  I contacted (shouted) Mr. Catlin and asked if he could swim if he went into the water.  Mr. Catlin said he was ok with going into the water.  Mr. Catlin jumped into the water on our command and Officer Hubbard threw him a type IV life ring.  Mr. Catlin grabbed the ring and he was directed not to let go of it.  Officer Hubbard jumped into the water with a Peterson buoy and grabbed Mr. Catlin.  I radioed Fire Dispatch and advised them that I had one rescue swimmer and one victim in the water 500 yards from Stearns Wharf.

    American Medical Response (AMR), Santa Barbara Fire Department (SBFD) and the Santa Barbara Police Department (SBPD) responded to East Beach and stood by for Officer Hubbard and Mr. Catlin.  I responded back to the harbor and docked PB#3.  I responded in Harbor Patrol truck #1939 (1939) to the base of the Stearns Wharf.  Officer Hubbard was able to safely swim Mr. Catlin 700 yards to the beach.  I assisted Fire personnel and AMR with the transport of Mr. Catlin from the beach to the base of the Wharf, where the ambulance was waiting for him.  Mr. Catlin was Hypothermic and in shock.  Mr. Catlin was transported by AMR to Cottage hospital.  Mr. Catlin’s boat went aground near Mission Creek, 200 yards east from the Wharf. 

    Mr. Catlin was released from Cottage Hospital and returned to the Harbor.  At approximately 5:00 am, Officer Hubbard and I contacted Mr. Catlin who stated he was going to Marina One to stay on a friend’s boat.