High Surf — San Francisco, California

2024-04-14 · San Francisco, California

Event narrative

A 32-foot long pleasure boat capsized near the Golden Gate Bridge on April 14. Coast Guard watchstanders received a notification at around 9:30 AM from a pilot boat captain that four boaters were in need of rescue after the boat capsized. A San Francisco Police Department boat crew and a pilot boat arrived to rescue the crew, and transferred them to a Coast Guard motor lifeboat, which brought them to Horseshoe Bay to be treated for hypothermia. At the time of the initial notification, the San Francisco Bar buoy (46237) reported significant waves of 1.8 m (around 6 feet) from 287 degrees, a dominant period of 12 seconds, and an average period of 8.1 seconds. Swell waves were 1.4 m (around 4.5 ft) at 11.8 seconds from the west-northwest, wind waves were 1.1 m (around 3.5 ft) at 9.5 seconds from the west-northwest.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 1166184. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.