SAN FRANCISCO, Calif. (CNN/KPIX) -- A Northern California man is accused of kidnapping his kids and making his getaway on the high seas. Police say he took off on a stolen yacht.
Jennifer Hipon says, "I want the coast guard I want the Navy anyone who has a boat, please look for my children and bring them back to me I don't know what he is going to do if backed into a corner. I am afraid for my children's lives."
It's been days since Jennifer Hipon has seen her two young children: 3-year old-Brooklynn and 2-year-old Devin.
According to the coast guard they are with their father on a stolen boat. Hipon says, "He got a sailboat and he's somewhere out in the ocean. I am not sure where he's at right now."
Jennifer says Christopher Maffei kidnapped them from her home. Jennifer's mom jean is covered in bruises after she tried to stop Maffei from taking the kids. Jean Hipon says, "I was running so fast I lost my balance. I could feel myself fall. If he could he would have ran over me."
Police initially said there was little they could do to help. Jennifer says, "Because he was a parent he had parental rights and they were not going to consider this parental abduction, so no amber alert was announced to the media."
Meanwhile at Club Nautique, a sailing club in Alameda, a boat was missing. A forty foot sailboat called "The Unleashed." Someone saw it sail out Tuesday night with no lights on and it was seen near Vallejo leased under a fake name. Don Durant with Club Nautique says, "Our efforts to contact him, the e-mail address we had didn't work and like I say he was going to give us a phone number but didn't. Told us his last name was Smith. Just didn't see real."
Coast Guard officials believe the boat is now headed to either Thailand or Mexico. Jennifer says Maffei lived in Thailand for four years and has always talked about taking the kids to Puerto Vallarta. She says, "When I was looking through his stuff he did have this child harness. Apparently that's for a boat."