LOS ANGELES — The Coast Guard is searching for a missing kayaker near Santa Claus Beach.
At 8:30 p.m., Monday, watchstanders at the Coast Guard Sector Los Angeles Operations Center in Long Beach received a report from LeeAnne Wood that her husband Phillip Wood, 55, had not returned from a kayak trip. Wood left from Santa Claus Beach in his blue single-man kayak at approximately 4 p.m., and was scheduled to return within an hour or two.
The Coast Guard immediately launched a 45-foot Response Boat — Medium boatcrew from Coast Guard Station Channel Islands and an MH-65D helicopter from Coast Guard Air Station Los Angeles along with a Montecito Fire Department swift-water rescue crew and a helicopter from Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Department to assist in the search. The Coast Guard Cutter Blacktip, an 87-foot Patrol Boat homeported in Channel Islands, is assisting in the search.
If anyone has any information, please contact the Coast Guard Sector Los Angeles Command Center at (310) 521-3815.
