Real Life Rescue Stories

From: Eyes4Hire@aol.com-DeleteThis.com
Date: Thu Aug 23 2001 - 16:30:05 PDT


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Date: Thu, 23 Aug 2001 19:30:05 EDT
Subject: Real Life Rescue Stories
To: wind_talk@opus.labs.agilent.com-DeleteThis.com
Cc: RGlasgow@d11.uscg.mil-DeleteThis.com (Glasgow,Richard CWO)
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formerly known as Real Life O**Shore Rescue Stories

The Coast Guard is keeping busy at Crissy Field. On Saturday they sent out
two boats to watch as 20-30 people were swimming in against a strong ebb
after the wind died quickly starting from Crissy. After 10-15 minutes the
usual residual puffs came in and allowed the experienced crew to
sail/hula/swim/sail/hula/swim to shore but about 10 people were rescued as
continued to ebb toward the south tower. I was tempted to get high and mighty
but I think I actually elected to come back in at the perfect moment
primarily through dumb luck ( and maybe 10-20% intuition).

I missed Sunday but was back out Monday or Tuesday. The Coast Guard raced out
to rescue multiple windsurfers near Point Diablo... about a mile outside the
gate. They brought in three windsurfers. It turned out that one guy had
broken a boom and the other two went to help. They all ended up getting ebbed
past the windline and none was radio equipped. They stayed close together
which helped them get spotted by the Red & White ferry but no help arrived
immediately after the ferry offered to hail the Coast Guard. Another
windsurfer (I presume it was a racer) showed up and started towing the
disabled sailor toward the rugged Marin shore. The Coast Guard arrived as he
was starting to make headway and loaded up the disabled sailor and the
original rescuers. This scenario sounded familiar because I was going to tow
someone with a broken mast in from near the north tower a month ago and
decided to radio after watching and calculating that the ebb current would
take us at least a 1/2 mile out before I could get him to shore.

As I got the story from the rescued windsurfer another windsurfer noticed
that his friend was not one of the 8-10 windsurfers still visible catching
the end of the session. With the sun heading quickly for the horizon, he
decided to call the Coast Guard. The Coast Guard staring taking the info and
we verifed that the guy was nowhere to be found. Just as the Coast Guard was
getting ready to ramp up a search, the guy showed up on the back of a
motorcycle. He had been sailing at the north tower and had jump off of the
large rolling swell. When he landed, the board broke in half. He apparantly
decided pretty quickly that he could not keep his rig and he made the
decision to lose the rig and hand on to a piece of the board. As he was
swimming for shore and riding the ebb out, he saw the Coast Guard come out to
make the rescue of the guy who broke his boom. He yelled as loud as he could
in an effort to get their attention but was unsuccesful (maybe a whistle
could have helped but I don't know exactly how far way he was). After the
Coast Guard left, he continued his swim and made landfall at least a mile or
two out on the Marin side. He climbed up the steep terrain to the road and
was found by two Italians who are riding their way around the USA on
motorcyles. He ended up riding back to Crissy over the bridge on the back of
one of the motorcycles.

My informal survey of the various people involved in these incidents
indicated that the majority do not have a radio, a light source or a whistle.
I don't want to reopen the whole debate on reponsibility and limits since we
all know the Coast Guard is not a taxi service, but anyone who sails the ebb
and goes more than 1/4 or a 1/2 mile offshore can get sucked out the gate,
even if you are on the buddy system and have someone to help. At least most
people are clear that your wetsuit is your life insurance. I haven't seen
anyone sailing Crissy in a shortie for quit a while.

I haven't even used my radio to rescue myself but it has helped in the rescue
of about a half dozen others including non-windsurfers. If you can afford it
and sail farther I'd, I can't recommend it enough. Keep the radio in a bag
both to avoid water damage and to screen wind noise off the mike. Without a
bag, the transmissions are 90% unitelligible when you have 20-30 wind gusts
hitting the mike.

With a light source, you chances of being found after dark are very good.
Without one, your odds of being found are near zero. If you carry a strobe
and you or a friend has to ditch your rig, you can attach the strobe to the
boom as long as you are confident that you will make shore and the rig may be
recovered later. I know that some rigs float because I've found one just
bobbing around at mid span.

For those who may not have written the date down, Saturday is the Open House
at Coast Guard Station Golden Gate at Fort Baker (near the Discovery Museum)
from 1-3 pm. I know a lot of you owe these guys one, so it would be a great
time to say thanks.

Peter



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