On the morning of July 5, Coast Guard Station Morro Bay responded to a disabled vessel call about five miles off the coast of beautiful Cayucos. A 47-foot response crew boat headed out to give the 24-foot powerboat a tow—but while that was happening, a fire broke out on the disabled vessel. The Coast Guard told the crew to jump in the freezing water with their life jackets and then pulled them out. The boat, not surprisingly, sank after the fire was extinguished by the Morro Bay Harbor Patrol. As boat fires will, this one spread quickly and one of the crew was treated for minor burns. Raked by howling northerly daytime seabreezes, Central California waters are no joke in the summer. We’re glad everyone got out safely. Check your batteries for shorts, make sure your fire extinguishers are ready to go, be sure you have more than one way to let the authorities know when things go sideways—and if you run into a Coastie in the wild, buy him or her a beer (only if they’re off duty of course).