File photo of a Long Beach Fire Department boat by John Valenzuela.

Tuesday night’s windstorm not only toppled trees and caused power outages across the city, it nearly caused a sailboat and its passenger to run aground on the breakwater

A team from the Long Beach Fire Department Marine Safety unit got a distress call through the Coast Guard around 9 p.m., Marine Safety Chief Gonzolo Medina said.

“We had a 40-foot sailboat that, in gale force winds, lost control and was being nearly pushed up against the Federal Breakwall, which would’ve been disastrous for the boat,” Medina said.

Winds reached as high as 47 knots, or about 55 miles per hour, according to authorities.

Two rescue boats responded to the sailboat and deployed a rescue swimmer into the water, who attached a line to the sailboat as it was struggling against the wind, Medina said. The rescue boat began towing the sailboat away from the breakwater, when the cleat the line was attached to broke off.

The second rescue boat then deployed another swimmer, who attached another line to a larger cleat, which held, he said.

“They got to it just in time before it went up against the break wall,” Medina said.

Because of the heavy wind conditions, it took two hours to tow the boat into the Alamitos Bay harbor. There was no damage to the sailboat and no injuries to the passenger on board.

Medina said he believes the sailboat got pulled off its anchor and with the winds coming from the opposite direction that they usually do—pushing the boat toward the breakwater—the sailor was unable to use the boat’s motor to get out of it.

Valerie Osier is the Social Media & Newsletter Manager for the Long Beach Post. Reach her at [email protected] or on Twitter @ValerieOsier