A shark attack. And a quandry.
A week ago, Felix Louis N’Jai went missing at Wildcat Beach, in a shark attack. Searching for his remains presented difficult problems. The remote beach, part of Point Reyes National Seashore, is difficult to access by boat, more than 20 miles from launch points in San Francisco Bay, and more than 30 miles from launch points in Tomales Bay. A diver search was untenable, since the event happened within a surf zone, and there was ongoing dangerous shark activity. Initial surface searches from the Coast Guard, National Parks, and Marin County SAR proved fruitless. Now what?
With typical quiet dedication, first responders started making calls for additional resources and ideas. One of the “brainstorming” calls came to us. We’re not part of the law enforcement mutual-aid network, but we’ve developed friendships and make sure we’re always supportive, so these sorts of calls are not unusual, even if this situation was. We suggested that the best tools for this operation would be a side scan sonar towfish, operated just outside the surf break, combined with an ROV, to investigate and retrieve any targets. As the net of responders expanded to include CalOES, NOAA, USCG, National Parks, and county SAR units from Marin, Contra Costa, and Alameda counties, we joined to discuss the best options for an underwater search.
Since this remote beach is part of a National Park, there’s a fair amount of paperwork that would be required for a non-government organization to respond. So we suggested that this call be fielded using equipment and personnel from government agencies, and that we’d join the effort in our capacity as law enforcement volunteers. Since we weren’t sure an ROV would be able to handle doing a “pick” in surf, we also brought dive gear, just in case.
Tuesday morning we launched from Sausalito, and made our way up the coast to Wildcat Beach. Teams from National Parks and Contra Costa County launched from Tomales Bay, and a coordinating team from Marin County met us (by radio) from on-shore. After some initial technical problems, we executed a thorough search of the zone Felix would have been located in, using high resolution sonar imaging. The ocean is a harsh taskmaster. And this was a stark reminder for those of us who love to spend time there, as Felix did.
https://www.sfchronicle.com/california/article/shark-point-reyes-njai-18406829.php
We’re disappointed we weren’t able to bring Felix home. Every tragedy like this touches us, too. We’re grateful, though, that we were able to assist first responders in bringing together the best resources available for a search. We thoroughly appreciate their dedication to a difficult task that goes without celebration, even when it ends in “success”. The world is a better place when we’re working together to make it that way.
