VENTURA : Coast Guard Group Proud of Rescues

For Allan Smidt, the new commander of the Ventura U.S. Coast Guard Auxiliary, there’s nothing better than placing his 60-foot cabin cruiser between a disabled vessel and harm’s way.

“Knowing that you’ve done something like save a life or save someone’s boat is a great feeling--I think it’s what motivates all of us here,” said Smidt, who relieved Ken Coddington on Jan. 1 as commander of the auxiliary.

During 1993, the 40-member flotilla, based at Ventura Harbor and working under the direction of the Coast Guard’s Channel Islands Harbor base, pulled seven people from the water and saved an estimated $160,000 worth of vessels from destruction. The flotilla, which also operates an air wing, performed more than 100 patrols, logging more than 250 hours in the air and 330 hours on the sea during rescue missions.

The auxiliary participates in nearly all Coast Guard activities with the exception of law enforcement operations. It also conducts courtesy vessel inspections and provides free classes to the public on vessel handling and vessel safety, according to Paul Sherman, the group’s public affairs officer.

“You’d be surprised how many people don’t have a clue as to how to handle their boats,” Sherman said. “Besides the rescues, we end up doing a lot of on-the-spot boating safety education.”

Channel Islands Coast Guard officials say their job would be hard to do without the auxiliary’s support.

“If we didn’t have them, our lives would be very difficult,” said Coast Guard Petty Officer Marc Engelbrecht, who serves as a liaison officer to the auxiliary. “All I have to do is pick up the phone any time of the day or night and they’re there--you can’t ask for much more than that.”

Earlier this year, the auxiliary actually provided vessels for the Coast Guard to use when the service found its own vessels in dry dock.

Another job of the auxiliary is to provide the Coast Guard with real-life training exercises. Members will motor their boats near a rocky breakwater, cut their engines and then call the Coast Guard, feigning engine failure. Coast Guard members practice rescue techniques, sometimes allowing the auxiliary’s yachts to drift dangerously close to the rocks.

“With what some of these vessels are worth, it places a decidedly different edge to the exercise,” Engelbrecht said. Coast Guard trainees “put a little more time into their planning to make sure the rescue works the first time.”