The body of a fourth and final fisherman who died when a sport fishing boat capsized off the Point Reyes National Seashore Wednesday was recovered by the Sonoma County Sheriff’s Office this afternoon.
The man is believed to be 62-year-old Jack Taylor of Riverbank, located in Stanislaus County.
National Park Service rangers spotted the body in the surf at Ten Mile Beach and called the sheriff’s office at about 2 p.m., Point Reyes National Seashore spokesman John Dell’Osso said.
The sheriff’s office sent a helicopter staffed by Tactical Flight Officer Debbie Little, the pilot and a paramedic.
The crew spotted the body about 80 yards offshore before it was washed to an area where 6- to 8-foot waves were breaking off, Little said.
They lowered a 100-foot landline, and the paramedic recovered the body. It was turned over to the National Park Service on shore. Rangers then called the Marin County coroner’s office.
The body of the third fisherman, 65-year old Ronald Michael Fuentes of Riverbank, was recovered at Ten Mile Beach at about 11 a.m. Thursday.
Two other fishermen on board, Melvin Pierce Cox Jr., 67, of Imboden, Ark., and Henry Medrano, 62, of Riverbank, were pulled from the water by the U.S. Coast Guard soon after the vessel capsized at about noon Wednesday.
They were pronounced dead by the Sonoma County coroner’s office at the Coast Guard station in Bodega Bay. None of the four men were wearing lifejackets when they were found.
The fishermen and their families were among a group of people from the Central Valley who were in Bodega Bay for an annual fishing excursion.
A person aboard a vessel that was not part of the fishing excursion saw the boat capsize when it was hit on the side by a large wave and reported it to the Coast Guard.
Rescuers spotted one of the fishermen in high surf not far from shore Wednesday but were unable to recover him. It’s unknown if that was Fuentes or Taylor.
The Sonoma County Sheriff’s Office said the boat capsized about 150 yards offshore. Debris from the capsized boat washed ashore along Ten Mile Beach.
