Flying a New Flag : Coast Guard: After patrolling this area for 20 years, the cutter Point Judith will go to work for the Venezuelan navy.

By ADRIANNE GOODMAN

Jan. 16, 1992 12 AM PT

TIMES STAFF WRITER

Dramatic rescues in stormy seas off the Ventura County coast. Major marijuana drug busts. Relief efforts in the 1989 San Francisco earthquake. Security patrol for the 1984 Olympics.

The resume of U.S. Coast Guard cutter Point Judith is long and studded with impressive events, all of which were highlighted at a ceremony Wednesday when Coast Guard officials decommissioned the high-speed patrol boat.

But don’t count the cutter out.

Instead of being relieved of duty and dry-docked, the 26-year-old boat, used for the past 20 years to patrol the Ventura and Santa Barbara county coastlines, is beginning a new career with the Venezuelan navy.

At a Coast Guard ceremony in Santa Barbara, ownership of the boat was transferred to Venezuelan naval officials who renamed it the ARV Alcatraz, hoisted their country’s flag over its deck and commissioned it for patrol duty along their homeland’s coastline.

“We didn’t want to give her up, but it’s the military,” said Fireman Apprentice Robert T. Kulbeth, who served on the ship for six months. “They’re getting an excellent deal.”

Also at the ceremony, six crew members, including commanding officer Lt. (j.g.) Thomas A. Greger, received special commendations for their efforts off Anacapa Island last February in one of the cutter’s most perilous rescues.

Rep. Robert J. Lagomarsino (R-Ventura), who attended the ceremony, praised Point Judith.

The vessel “has served this nation and this area for many years, particularly in the area of drug interdiction,” Lagomarsino said. “I’m sure that service will be carried on by the Alcatraz.”

Venezuelan Naval Attache Rear Adm. Salvador Paz Camacho, in a speech that was translated from Spanish, praised the ship’s pristine condition and called the gift “a small, indicative sign of the friendship between the U.S. and the Venezuelan government.”

The cutter will be replaced by the Point Camden, which was moored Wednesday alongside the Point Judith.

As Point Judith, the cutter was involved in more than 1,800 search-and-rescue missions and more than 3,500 boardings of other vessels for drug searches and checks for compliance with maritime laws, said Coast Guard Rear Admiral Marshall E. Gilbert.

The rescue off the rocky coast of Anacapa Island last February, amid high winds and pitching seas, was one of the crew’s most dangerous, members recalled.

Three men drowned when the wooden hull of their fishing boat was shattered by 15-foot waves. However, Point Judith’s crew, part of a Coast Guard boat-and-helicopter rescue team, saved the three remaining crew members.

Greger was awarded the Coast Guard Commendation Medal and five crew members were given Meritorious Service Medals for their part in the rescue.

“It was really scary,” said Fireman Justin Minard, one of the honored crew members, after the ceremony. “But when you’re involved in a rescue, you don’t really think about it, you just do it.”

In addition to a four-ton marijuana seizure in 1976 and the confiscation of seven tons of marijuana in a 1984 seizure, the Point Judith was used to provide security for ships being loaded with war materials at Port Hueneme during the Persian Gulf War.

In its final bow as a U.S. vessel, the ship’s 12-man crew boarded one last time, secured a final watch, took down the Coast Guard ensign and solemnly struck the ship’s bell eight times, as Coast Guard tradition requires.

“It’s been a really good cutter,” Minard said, recalling all the work that crew members did to keep the boat in top shape. “It’s hard to see it go.”