OJAI : Coast Guard Ends Search for Boater
The search for a 49-year-old Ojai man who fell off his sailboat Monday into rough ocean waters has been called off, U.S. Coast Guard officials said Wednesday.
The Coast Guard believes that Heinz Kluckow is dead, so it suspended efforts to find him at 7:20 p.m. Tuesday, Chief Petty Officer Reid Crispino said.
“We do not see how he could have survived in the water that length of time,” Crispino said.
Crispino said the only other person on the boat, a female friend of Kluckow’s, stated that Kluckow was trying to retrieve a dinghy that had broken loose from the boat when he fell overboard about 12:30 p.m. Monday, about two miles off Mandalay State Beach.
Ocean water was in the low 60s Monday with 8- to 12-foot waves, authorities said.
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