SM BAY — The U.S. Coast Guard has suspended its search for a man whose 30-foot sail boat ran aground Sunday about a mile south of the Santa Monica Pier with no one on board.
Officials suspended the search about 1 p.m. Monday after Coast Guard vessels and aircraft combed the area for most of Sunday night and the following morning but found no sign of missing skipper Tom Kirschbaum, Coast Guard spokeswoman Christina Bozeman said.
Several other local agencies, including the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department, had participated in the search, which covered more than 2,000 square miles.
Kirschbaum, 55, of Los Angeles, had completed a race to Catalina Island and was scheduled to return Sunday to Marina del Rey, his wife, Gayle, told the Los Angeles Times. The Coast Guard received a report at 3:40 p.m. on Sunday of the boat running aground just off Venice Beach.
Kirschbaum is a member of the Pacific Singlehanded Sailing Association, Bozeman said.
“He was very sensible,” Kirschbaum’s wife told the Times. “If it was too rough, he wouldn’t go.”
The missing person search has been handed over to the Los Angeles Police Department, officials said.
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