2 Dead, 2 Lost as Sailboat Capsizes in Sea of Cortez

A pleasure trip in Baja California Sur ended in tragedy this week for four Southern California residents--including a man and woman from San Marcos--who were aboard a small sailboat that capsized in the Sea of Cortez, apparently in heavy seas, officials said.

Rescue craft found the bodies of two of the vacationers, and the search continues for the two missing.

Volunteers and officials, including a Coast Guard jet dispatched from San Diego, searched Thursday in the area, 600 miles south of San Diego.

The bodies--one that of Wayne Shwartz, 48, of San Marcos--were found in the sea Wednesday afternoon, according to Charles Luoma-Overstreet, U.S. vice consul in Tijuana. Both victims were wearing life preservers, he said.

Searchers at the site identified the other body as that of Anastasia Seals, whose age was not known. She was believed to be a resident of the Palm Springs area.

Searchers found both bodies a few miles north of Isla San Marcos, an island about 15 miles north of Punta Chivato, the Baja port where the sailboat began its voyage.

Baja resident Lee Cobb, who took part in the search, identified the two missing as Arlean Burlington, 28, of San Marcos and Gordon Collins, 34, believed to be from the Palm Springs area.

They were aboard a 22-foot sailboat, equipped with a motor, that left on a fishing trip about noon Tuesday.

The boat left in calm weather, authorities said, but strong winds and high seas swept through the area later Tuesday.

The craft was reported missing Wednesday, triggering a search by aircraft and boats, said Bill Alvarado, a local hotel owner.

Searchers found the capsized boat Wednesday afternoon, north of Isla San Marcos. The two bodies were found about a mile away.

The four vacationers had driven into Baja together earlier in the week, Alvarado said. They were staying on seafront property belonging to Shwartz, who owned the boat, Alvarado said.

“They were just going out for a fishing trip,” Alvarado said.

The water temperature in that area of the Sea of Cortez is about 70 degrees, meaning a person with a life preserver could probably survive 12 to 36 hours before succumbing to hypothermia, said Lt. Chris Reilly of the Coast Guard in Long Beach.

The Sea of Cortez, also known as the Gulf of California, is a popular area for U.S. and Mexican recreational boaters, but authorities say the sea’s deceptively calm waters can quickly turn hazardous. Accidents involving pleasure craft are not uncommon.

In January, 1990, 14 people, including 10 U.S. citizens, perished after what was described as a “rogue wave” swamped the Santa Barbara, a converted fishing boat that was taking the group on a scuba-diving expedition.

Two survivors were saved after they spent more than 35 hours in the water. That incident occurred west of the Mexican mainland port of Guaymas, just across the Gulf from where the sailboat went down.