Man Suspected of Pirating Boat Is Fished From Sea

LAGUNA BEACH —  An 18-foot catamaran capsized off the Laguna coast early Thursday, leaving a drifter suspected of stealing it in critical condition with hypothermia and possibly a second man missing.

Although witnesses claimed to have seen two men steal the boat, which was beached near the Hotel Laguna, police were not convinced the second person even existed.

“We feel that the second guy made it to shore and took off. We do not think he’s dead,” Lt. Dick Olson of the Orange County Sheriff’s Harbor Patrol said moments after calling off the search at 1 p.m. Thursday. “Or, there’s the possibility that he doesn’t exist. And, of course, he hasn’t called in to identify himself.”

Scott Gregory Houston, 23, whom Olson described as a homeless drifter, was fished out of the 57-degree waters near Main Beach about 8:30 a.m. and taken to Hoag Memorial Hospital Presbyterian in Newport Beach, where he remained in critical condition late Thursday.

When police found Houston, he was 1 1/2 miles off Main Beach, wearing a life jacket, suffering from severe hypothermia and “babbling incoherently,” Olson said. Once ashore, his body temperature was 87 degrees and dropped to 84 degrees after he reached the hospital, Olson said.

The search began after witnesses called authorities between 2 and 3 a.m. to tell them that the men had stolen the boat.

Police said the pair began swimming for shore shortly after dawn, when Main Beach in Laguna came into view.

“I just heard a noise in the middle of the night, like a mouse squeaking,” said Laguna Beach resident Sharon Jones, whose living-room window overlooks the beach where the boat was beached. “I got up and saw two men taking the boat. They were taking their time like they owned it.”

“It’s no place to park the boat,” said Jones’ husband, Lee Jones. “It’s too close to the Main Beach. . . . I was concerned that the boat would hit the bluff during high tide and cause a landslide. I never thought somebody would take it for a joy ride.”

Police were able to extract little, if any, information from Houston “because he was so incoherent,” Olson said.

Walter Viszolay, the owner of the boat, reported the theft to the Laguna Beach Police Department, saying neither man had permission to use the craft. Viszolay said he was surprised that someone would steal the boat since it was missing the front sail, the keel and the tiller.

“It’s like a car without a steering wheel,” Viszolay said.

He said his wife discovered the boat was missing from its usual spot when she showed up for work at their Laguna Beach art gallery about 11 a.m. Thursday.

The boat is named Nokaoi, a Hawaiian word meaning the very best, Viszolay said. He estimated its worth at $5,000.

The Harbor Patrol towed it to its facility in Newport Beach.