Sheriff's investigators are checking to see if there's a possibility that a body recovered this morning from the waters of Bodega Bay is connected to the fatal Farallones yacht crash from earlier this month, a Sonoma County sheriff's lieutenant said.
"There's no reason to believe it's related," Lt. Dennis O'Leary said about the body discovered this morning and the April 14 crash near the Farallon Islands.
O'Leary said the body has been identified as male.
Tourists spotted the body at the base of the cliff at Bodega Head and called the sheriff's office at 7:40 p.m. Tuesday, O'Leary said.
The sheriff's office sent a helicopter to the area that night but could not conduct a search in the dark.
At first light this morning, a helicopter was sent out to the same area and the remains were found and retrieved around 8:30 a.m., he said.
The sheriff's office is going to collaborate with San Francisco police investigators, whose jurisdiction covers the Farallon Islands, to see what information, such as descriptions or dental records, they have about the missing sailors from the yacht crash to "see if there is a possible connection," O'Leary said.
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The Low Speed chase, a 38-foot yacht based at the San Francisco Yacht Club in Belvedere, was tossed by the waves near the islands on April 14, which sent many crewmembers into the water and the boat into rocks.
One sailor, Belvedere resident Marc Kasanin, 46, was pulled out of the water by rescuers and confirmed dead.
Four others -- Alexis Busch, of Larkspur; Alan Cahill, of Tiburon; 25-year-old Kentfield resident Jordan Fromm; and Elmer Morrisey, of Ireland, remain lost at sea.
In the meantime, sheriff's officials are going through their missing person reports to find any possible leads in identifying the body. The department will then put out a bulletin about the body to other law enforcement agencies, O'Leary said.
