Man missing after boat sinks

By COLBY FRAZIER — Dec. 27, 2008

Santa Barbara County sheriff’s deputies continued to search for a man yesterday whose 18-foot boat capsized on Christmas morning a quarter-mile offshore of Goleta Beach.

Search and rescue divers from the County Fire Department searched the wreckage, but aside from personal belongings floating in the water, did not locate any victims near the capsized boat, a county fire spokesperson said.

The spokesperson said the boat was registered to a man whose car was found nearby.

Lt. Butch Arnoldi of the sheriff’s department would not release the missing man’s name because deputies were still attempting to contact the man’s relatives.

Arnoldi said the man is well known in the area and apparently lives in his boat and car, traveling between the two in a small skiff.

The man’s car was found on Ward Drive, a short distance from the beach.

When emergency crews arrived at the scene just before noon Thursday, they found the bow of the man’s boat sticking vertically out of the water and a trail of debris being blown east toward Santa Barbara.

Arnoldi said divers thoroughly searched the sinking boat and surrounding waters, as well as beaches yesterday.

“It all checked clear,” he said.

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