Ferry saves nude swimmer

SAN FRANCISCO -- A woman was pulled out of the water yesterday just off the Tiburon Peninsula by a ferry crew after she waved her arms for help, officials said.

The woman was apparently swimming in the channel off of Paradise Cay when passengers and crew members on the Larkspur Ferry, which was carrying about 300 people, spotted her waving her arms for help, said ferry spokeswoman Mary Currie. She appeared to be in distress, she added.

Passenger Tony Zucker said the woman was naked and was "very alive."

"She was treading water when we picked her up," said Zucker, who rides the ferry everyday to his office in San Francisco. "That was the best part, that the person was alive."

The woman was taken to a hospital by ambulance immediately after the ferry docked at the San Francisco Ferry Terminal at 7:30 a.m., Currie said.

She may have been hypothermic, officials said.

"It's our protocol to rescue anybody in distress," Currie said.

The rescue put the ferry a bit behind schedule for its return trip to the North Bay, but Currie said it will be back on time for its next run into San Francisco.