Just a little story to share with you all. Went out for a leisure sail Friday evening with my daughter her friend, in Beaufort 4 or 5 conditions. We sailed under main only, and there was a 15" whitecap chop on the water. Hardly any boats on the lake, but one windsurfer really hauling ass.
Out in the middle of the lake, we heard some yelling, and looked around to see three PFD-less people standing on a small low fiberglass fishing boat that was going down by the stern. I barely had time to say "shit, they're sinking." Next time I looked, the boat was gone, and the people were in the water amongst various debris. There were no other boats in the vicinity and I realized we were going to have to rescue them as quickly as we could. Started my Atomic-4 without running the blower first, luffed my main, drove to them, and threw out my life sling. Had to circle them three or four times dragging the life sling line by them, before we could get them all pulled in and aboard via the swim ladder. I missed on the first try or two just due to the wind and water conditions and my main flogging. One of them was about 30 yards from the other two, who told me to get the lone guy first. By the time we got the other two aboard, they'd been in the 68-degree water probably ten minutes. Dropped the main, drove to the marina, docked at the launch ramp, and called 911 for the first guy at the request of the second one. I think he was very intoxicated or high on something. He was incoherent and unable to move his body well, and it wasn't from exhaustion. Plus his friends told me to get him first, so they must have known something. Anyway, couple lessons learned. First, my life sling line was not already tied off with the life sling in the bag. It should have been. Had to tell my daughter's friend to tie it off before throwing it out. Second, in all the chaos we forgot to give them blankets when we got them aboard. One went below and my daughter gave them all towels, but they were all at least very cold if not in the beginning stages of hypothermia. Third, don't expect the Chatfield State Park rangers to respond to a mayday hail on VHF 16 - I hailed as soon as I grasped what was happening, to no avail. It was lucky that I was in the right place at the right time. There were no other boats around. These three were too far in the middle of the lake to swim to shore and I don't know if they could have given the conditions (including theirs). And I'm glad we were able to get a line to them before having to witness any of them drowning. Couldn't have done without my daughter and her friend (both 22-ish) - that would have been too much for me to manage alone. After we unloaded them, filed our statements, put the boat away, and drove home, we toasted the good things in life with many dark & stormies and whitecaps. I'd never seen anything like that before, and I hope I don't have to again. Best Regards, Randy Stafford S/V Grenadine C&C 30-1 #7 Ken Caryl, CO
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