[LATITUDE 38] Sailor Performs Ocean Rescue off California Coast

[LATITUDE 38] Sailor Performs Ocean Rescue off California Coast

Khosrow Khosravani, from Marina del Rey, had only recently learned to sail when his newly acquired skills were called upon to carry out the rescue of a woman offshore from the Southern California coastline.

“I am still shaking about the horror she faced for 12 hours in darkness in the ocean with no life jacket or anything whatsoever,” Khosrow wrote.

On Sunday September 26, Khosrow was helming his 1982 Catalina 25, Defiant, from Marina del Rey (MDR) to Malibu. This was his “first attempt” to sail outside the harbor aboard the boat he had bought in August. Less than two weeks earlier, on September 14, he had become an ASA (American Sailing Association) Certified Sailor after completing ASA 101 and103.

Koz Khosravani at helm
Khosrow at the helm of his Catalina 25.

 

© 2021 Khosrow Khosravani

Khosrow had three guests onboard, none of whom were sailors. During the coming rescue they would each play a role in bringing the distressed woman onto the boat.

“I noticed her thanks to a pod of dolphins.” Khosrow and his guests were watching the dolphins when they saw a hand waving. “She had no life jacket, and was just treading water.”

It would later appear that the woman had gone for a swim alone, at almost midnight on Saturday. Due to some unknown difficulty she was unable to return to shore and was found the next morning, a few miles offshore.

“She is a true fighter, who defied the odds and survived in the cold water,” Khosrow said.

Khosrow added that once Defiant‘s crew had the woman onboard they issued a Mayday call. “[She was] barely conscious but could tell us that she was alone and that I did not have to look for other survivors in the vicinity.”

Rescued woman in cockpit
The safety and MOB drills from ASA’s sailing courses demonstrated their worth with the rescue of the woman.

 

© 2021 Khosrow Khosravani

“We covered her with a warm blanket and gave her water. Then within 10 minutes or less, the Coast Guard sent a rescue boat. The young lady survived and is in stable condition at Ronald Reagan Hospital at UCLA. Praying for her well-being …  And thanks to my three guests on the boat for staying calm and following my rescue instructions. Buying this cheap sailboat was a blessing.”

Life Guard rescue boat
The LA County Fire Department Rescue Boat was quick to arrive on the scene.

 

© 2021 Khosrow Khosravani

Khosrow said that according to local authorities, it is quite common for young people in the area to swim off the beach late at night.

We’ll share the full story of the rescue in an upcoming issue of Latitude 38. In the meantime, Khosrow’s last words on the subject: “Stay safe. Life is so precious.”

ORIGINAL SOURCE: Latitude 38

 

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[KTLA 5] ‘It just wasn’t her time’: Sailor saves woman floating off Marina Del Rey coast for 12 hours

[KTLA 5] ‘It just wasn’t her time’: Sailor saves woman floating off Marina Del Rey coast for 12 hours

After 12 hours stuck at sea off the coast of Marina Del Rey, a woman was saved last month by a sailor who happened to spot her hand while marveling at a pod of dolphins.

On Sept. 26, Khosrow “Koz” Khosravani and a group of friends embarked on a sail from Marina Del Rey to Paradise Cove in Malibu. During the trip, Khosravani spotted a pod of dolphins and decided to deviate from the route to get a better view. That’s when he saw something unusual.

“I saw a hand,” he says. “If it wasn’t for the dolphins, I would have never seen this lady, who only had a few minutes to live.”

At the start of the trip, Khosravani, who had just finishing sailing school a few weeks prior, taught everyone on board what to do in case of an emergency.

“I told them these things will never happen but it’s good to know,” he recalls. “Well, 30 minutes later, they needed all the training.”

First, Khosravani threw out a floatation device but the woman was too weak to use it. So then he used a buoy with a 70 feet cord.

Five minutes later, he got the young woman to the side of the boat and pulled her on board. Khosravani says she was naked, exhausted and could barely speak, and they wrapped her in a blanket.

“I asked her if she is alone or if there are other people we should look for,” Khosravani recounts. “She could barely say her first name and she said she’s alone.”

Khosravani called the Los Angeles Fire Department, and within seven minutes, crews reached the sail boat and took the woman to safety.

They later learned the young woman had gone out alone for a late night swim, when she was taken two and a half miles away from shore. She survived by floating on her back for 12 hours.

“There is something in this universe, it just wasn’t her time,” Khosravani says. “I consider myself maybe spiritual rather than religious. But the things that happened one after another, if all wouldn’t have aligned together, this lady wouldn’t be with us today.”

The woman has not been identified but she was released from the hospital after three days of being treated for hypothermia.

Khosravani says he hasn’t spoken to the woman but will do so when she’s ready.

He adds that he hopes more sailors and their crews stay up to date on their training, in case they are in a similar situation.

ORIGINAL SOURCE: KTLA NEWS

 

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We look forward to helping you achieve your nautical goals. If you're just starting out, or hoping to increase your experience level and skillset, we'll get you there. Blue Pacific Yachting has served the Marina del Rey community for more than 30 years. With Sailing instruction, powerboating courses, trips to Catalina Island and the Channel Islands, yacht racing classes, spinnaker clinics, catamaran courses, docking clinics, instructor certification courses — we cover it all. Plus, we have a beautiful fleet of boats to bareboat charter. We are proud to be LA's premier boating destination.

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[INSIDE EDITION] Boater Believes Pod of Dolphins Led Him to Rescue Naked Woman Floating in the Ocean Off California Coast

[INSIDE EDITION] Boater Believes Pod of Dolphins Led Him to Rescue Naked Woman Floating in the Ocean Off California Coast

MARINA DEL REY, Calif. — Koz Khosravani recently moved to Marina del Rey and just learned how to sail on his own, but he is already getting recognized around the harbor. That’s because the story of what he accomplished one Sunday morning in September has had a ripple effect.

Los Angeles rescue boat captain, Matt Rhodes, remembers the call he received on Sept. 26.

“What Koz and his guests did aboard his boat that day was just tremendous,” explained Rhodes.

Khosravani was embarking on his first sailing voyage outside the marina harbor with three guests. Their destination was Malibu.

Before they left, Khosravani gave his passengers a crash course in sailing safety.

“I was lucky, I gave all my three guests training on how to rescue someone who goes overboard,” he said.“I was lucky, I gave all my three guests training on how to rescue someone who goes overboard,” he said.

About three miles off shore, the passengers saw a pod of dolphins. That’s when Khosravani noticed something else.

“And that’s when I saw a hand waving,” he said.

Khosravani can recount every detail of the intricate effort it took to pull aboard a stranded victim.

“How do you get someone who is almost unconscious, almost like a dead weight, into the boat?” he said. “She was all slippery.”

A woman who had gone skinny dipping at midnight in Santa Monica had been swept out to sea. By the time Khosravani and his passengers found her, she had been in 60 degree water for nearly 12 hours.

Khosravani radioed for emergency response. Capt. Rhodes arrived on scene and assessed the victim. “Mid-twenties female on board their vessel, wrapped in blankets. She clearly was exhausted, looked weak and to be suffering from hypothermia,” recalled Rhodes, who was able to initiate the woman’s transfer to the UCLA Medical Center.

“I don’t think she could have sustained being out there very much longer based on how she was presenting to us when we got on scene. She’s really lucky not only that they were the ones that spotted her, but they were the ones that were there because he was prepared, he was trained,” Rhodes said.

The woman lived because Khosravani was prepared.

Khosravani hasn’t been able to speak with her since saving her life, because her identity is protected. He has to wait for her to make contact. But he thinks about the young woman a lot, because she gave him a new perspective on life.

“Besides the fact I would say to her, ‘I’m so happy you are alive,’ I would say, ‘You have a second chance, make it count.’ That applies to my life too after this experience,” he said. “I suddenly feel like life is fragile and you should live it every day because you never know what is going to happen.”

ORIGINAL SOURCE: Inside Edition

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We look forward to helping you achieve your nautical goals. If you're just starting out, or hoping to increase your experience level and skillset, we'll get you there. Blue Pacific Yachting has served the Marina del Rey community for more than 30 years. With Sailing instruction, powerboating courses, trips to Catalina Island and the Channel Islands, yacht racing classes, spinnaker clinics, catamaran courses, docking clinics, instructor certification courses — we cover it all. Plus, we have a beautiful fleet of boats to bareboat charter. We are proud to be LA's premier boating destination.

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[SPECTRUM NEWS] Real-life hero saves stranded woman at sea

[SPECTRUM NEWS] Real-life hero saves stranded woman at sea

MARINA DEL REY, Calif. — Koz Khosravani recently moved to Marina del Rey and just learned how to sail on his own, but he is already getting recognized around the harbor. That’s because the story of what he accomplished one Sunday morning in September has had a ripple effect.

Los Angeles rescue boat captain, Matt Rhodes, remembers the call he received on Sept. 26.

“What Koz and his guests did aboard his boat that day was just tremendous,” explained Rhodes.

Khosravani was embarking on his first sailing voyage outside the marina harbor with three guests. Their destination was Malibu.

Before they left, Khosravani gave his passengers a crash course in sailing safety.

“I was lucky, I gave all my three guests training on how to rescue someone who goes overboard,” he said.“I was lucky, I gave all my three guests training on how to rescue someone who goes overboard,” he said.

About three miles off shore, the passengers saw a pod of dolphins. That’s when Khosravani noticed something else.

“And that’s when I saw a hand waving,” he said.

Khosravani can recount every detail of the intricate effort it took to pull aboard a stranded victim.

“How do you get someone who is almost unconscious, almost like a dead weight, into the boat?” he said. “She was all slippery.”

A woman who had gone skinny dipping at midnight in Santa Monica had been swept out to sea. By the time Khosravani and his passengers found her, she had been in 60 degree water for nearly 12 hours.

Khosravani radioed for emergency response. Capt. Rhodes arrived on scene and assessed the victim. “Mid-twenties female on board their vessel, wrapped in blankets. She clearly was exhausted, looked weak and to be suffering from hypothermia,” recalled Rhodes, who was able to initiate the woman’s transfer to the UCLA Medical Center.

“I don’t think she could have sustained being out there very much longer based on how she was presenting to us when we got on scene. She’s really lucky not only that they were the ones that spotted her, but they were the ones that were there because he was prepared, he was trained,” Rhodes said.

The woman lived because Khosravani was prepared.

Khosravani hasn’t been able to speak with her since saving her life, because her identity is protected. He has to wait for her to make contact. But he thinks about the young woman a lot, because she gave him a new perspective on life.

“Besides the fact I would say to her, ‘I’m so happy you are alive,’ I would say, ‘You have a second chance, make it count.’ That applies to my life too after this experience,” he said. “I suddenly feel like life is fragile and you should live it every day because you never know what is going to happen.”

ORIGINAL SOURCE: Spectrum News

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Novice sailor makes a remarkable rescue

Novice sailor makes a remarkable rescue

It was a gorgeous light wind day on Santa Monica Bay and Koz Khosravani was excited to be taking his new-to-him Catalina 25 out with friends for the first time. The boat, with its crew of four aboard, was power sailing from Marina del Rey to Malibu when a pod of dolphins crossed the bow, and everyone was taking photos as the dolphins swam out to sea.

And then Khosravani saw a hand come out of the water about the length of a city block away.

At first he thought he must have made a mistake. Surely there couldn’t be someone three miles off shore in the middle of the Pacific.

But Khosravani decided to alter course anyway, heading west even though he couldn’t see anything in the water.

“At this point I thought, OK, I didn’t see what I thought I saw,” he said. “But then, I saw the hand one more time.”

As Khosravani brought Defiant, which he had purchased just a month before, close he spotted a woman in the water. With the sails up, but not drawing on the nearly windless day, he maneuvered the boat with the 10-horsepower outboard, just as he had learned in ASA 101 and 103, two beginning sailing courses he’d taken at Blue Pacific Yachting just a week before.

 

He tossed a throw rope to the woman, but she was so weak she wasn’t able to hang on, so he threw another larger throw rope that he bought on Amazon a few days before “just in case.”

 

“We pulled her slowly to the center of the boat, probably about 10 feet away, and then I shut off the outboard and we pulled her to back with the boarding ladder,” he said. “When we got her to the bottom of the ladder we noticed she was nude, and that she wasn’t able to help us get her on board at all.”

 

Khosravani, a weight lifter, and his friend managed to pull the 26-year-old onboard. Two other guests on board grabbed towels and blankets to warm the woman, who was barely conscious, he said. They were able to get her to tell them her first name and that she was alone.

 

“At that point I got on channel 16 to call the Coast Guard, and I said, ‘I just found woman alone in the middle of the ocean.’”

 

Within minutes the Los Angeles County Fire Department rescue boat arrived and they took the woman to shore. She was in the hospital for a few days and treated for hypothermia. She told crew on the rescue boat that she had gone skinny dipping at about midnight the night before, more than 11 hours before Khosravani found her barely floating in 68-degree water.

 

Even Khosravani recognizes that the story is almost unbelievable, so he explained what led him to discover that hand rising from the water.

 

Six months ago Khosravani, who came to the United States from Iran 43 years ago, moved from inland Irvine, California, to Marina del Rey.

 

“For the first time in my life, I thought about buying a sailboat,” he said. Khosravani had never sailed and actually had a fear of the water until six or seven years ago when a weight-lifting injury left him unable to work out and he learned to swim by watching YouTube videos in order to keep fit.

 

He bought the 1982 Catalina 25 and took the boater’s safety course required in California but decided he wanted additional safety courses and took ASA 101 and 103, the organization’s introduction and coastal sailing courses.

 

A week after taking the classes he invited friends for a sail to Malibu for lunch. Before leaving the dock, he talked his guests through safety and man overboard procedures, assuring them not to worry because “this never happens.”

 

That instruction would turn out to be crucial in the rescue, as one friend knew to immediately act as a spotter and point at the woman in the water and another was able to provide GPS coordinates to the rescue boat.

 

“I wouldn’t have seen her without the dolphins,” Khosravani said. “They took my attention to the port side of the sailboat and if we hadn’t been so excited to see them, we wouldn’t have seen that hand.

 

“So many things went right and aligned.”

 

He includes the survival skills of the victim, who survived nearly 12 hours in 68-degree water, on that list.

 

Khosravani said that Capt. Matt Rhodes, who operated the boat that took the woman to shore, recognized how unusual the rescue was.

 

“He said he feels that if it wasn’t for us picking her up she probably would have died soon,” he said.

 

The L.A. County Fire Department declined to comment.

 

Khosravani said the sailing courses prepared him well.

 

“I got my money’s worth on that used sailboat and those classes,” he said. “The fact that this woman is alive; you can’t put a price on that.”

 

The experience left his friends shell-shocked, but only made Khosravani’s burgeoning love of sailing grow stronger.

 

“I have major plans now,” he said. “Before my whole goal was to sail to Catalina Island, but now I’m seriously considering sailing south some day, going through the Panama Canal and to the Caribbean.”

 

As a step toward that goal, he sold the Catalina and bought a Capri 30 in November. 

 

Koz Khosravani aboard his new-to-him Catalina 25 in Marina del Rey, California.

 

ORIGINAL SOURCE: Sailing Magazine

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We look forward to helping you achieve your nautical goals. If you're just starting out, or hoping to increase your experience level and skillset, we'll get you there. Blue Pacific Yachting has served the Marina del Rey community for more than 30 years. With Sailing instruction, powerboating courses, trips to Catalina Island and the Channel Islands, yacht racing classes, spinnaker clinics, catamaran courses, docking clinics, instructor certification courses — we cover it all. Plus, we have a beautiful fleet of boats to bareboat charter. We are proud to be LA's premier boating destination.

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