A group of four recreational boaters motored out of Bodega Harbor at dawn Friday eager to greet the open sea and hook some salmon.
Outside the harbor, waves swelled a stomach-churning 10 feet and closer in pounded the coastline, prompting advisories from the National Weather Service. But veteran sailor and Santa Rosa teacher Rick Hargreaves, 59, apparently did not sense danger.
When they failed to return Friday evening, search and rescue personnel, including from the Coast Guard and Sonoma County Sheriff’s Office, were dispatched to look for them.
Saturday, searchers discovered the boat crashed on a beach near Tomales Point. Two bodies also were located, one on the shore of Bird Rock, a 2-acre island off the western coast of Tomales Point, and the other, offshore in a floating debris field that appeared to have come from the small craft.
