rescue

starcrafttom · Posted: Mon Mar 06, 2006 2:45 am Post subject: rescue

Here’s how a day of fishing turned into a day of adventure for us and near disaster for others. Sark and his friend john were supposed to meet me at everret at 630am for a day of fishing. We hit the water at 7am and headed out for useless bay. Before we could get to the Mukilteo ferry the wind had can up in a hurry and with great force. So we bagged on the useless bay idea and fished the Clinton ferry area of Whidbey Island. The weather was 3 to 4 ft with a 5 fter thrown in every once in a while just to get your attention. While trolling I over heard the coast guard asking if anyone in the Camino island area if they knew about a boat taking on water. Well no one answered and the fishing was slow so I call Seattle station and told them I would good have look if they gave me a good starting point. Station Seattle said they had a mayday in the west side of Camino head. We pulled up our gear and headed over that way in a 3 to 5 ft following sea. Once on Camino head we could not find a thing. Some boats were in the area but none where in trouble. We looked around for 10mins or so and I called Seattle stations and told them that we were going back to fishing if they did not have anything else for us. The coast guard came back with a report of people in the water at tyee beach. tyee beach is on the north east side of camino about half way up Susan bay. We pounded our way around Camino head and headed up Susan bay with a 3 to 4 ft sea at our backs. When we got to the tyee beach area we could see a fire truck on shore. Camino fire hailed me on the vhf. They informed me that they had a boat upside down and were not sure where the people were. John spotted a white hull on the water a half-mile off the port bow and we headed that way. What we found was a 20 ft trophy belly up with two adults clinging to the hull for dear life. It was a man and woman in there 40s. She had on a vest but he did not. As we got closer I got down wind of them and decide to back up to them and have them swim to us. sark yelled for them to swim to us and the look that they gave us told us that swimming was not going to happen. We decided that I would have to back up right to their boat and we would just grab them. By this time they had been in the water for 45 mins. Hypo had set in and they were not able to help us help them. We got back close enough and put the engine in neutral. Then just reached out and grab the women by the life vest and dragged her from the boat in a 3 to 4 ft sea. Sark and I dragged her over the swim step and splash well then handed her to john who took her into the cabin. I then had to back up again to get close enough to grab the man and drag him on board. They were both dead weight and close to shock. Once in the cabin sark and john took most of the shirts off the couple and wrapped them in the Indian blankets that susan keeps on board along with sark and johns jackets. Camino fire department wanted me to noise into the beach at tyee but there are no docks. Well the swell was board side to us and still 3 to 4 ft. so I said no. We had heat and dry blankets and kayak point was only a short run away on the north side of Susan bay. About that time the coast guard chopper showed up and followed us over to kayak point. Kayak point has a high fishing pier but no dock. The good part is that it’s out of the wind mostly with a sand beach that drops off fast. We just noised the Susan e into the beach and had the fire department guy’s wade about thigh deep to the side of my boat to get our passengers. They had an ambulance waiting. After we got the couple to shore we turned north to see a full rainbow. We figured that we had made some good fish karma for the day and went back to fishing for the rest of the day. The water by noon was flat and glassy but we only managed one shaker. We did get to see a pod of Orcas off of camino head around 230pm. Its great to see them in the sound. Two big males and three females.
all in all a great day.

After I got home a cleaned the boat I found some of the couples wet cloths in the cabin. Susan throw the stuff in the dryer but found the woman’s wallet. We called around and tracked her down about 6pm and the two of them came by to get the wallet and tell their side of the story and how the sinking took place. I will post what they had to say tomorrow, I am tired and it’s late.

Mr. Fisherman · Posted: Mon Mar 06, 2006 3:24 am Post subject:

Well done and good on you! Beer

Sea Wolf · Posted: Mon Mar 06, 2006 3:40 am Post subject:

TOM-

NICE JOB AND DONE VERY THOUGHTFULLY AND CAREFULLY!

CAN'T WAIT FOR PART II....?

IS THE BAYLINER TROPHY STILL OUT WITH THE ORCAS?

Joe.

C-Fisher · Posted: Mon Mar 06, 2006 3:45 am Post subject:

It's great to know people like yourselves are on the water. By takeing the time and caring you most likely saved some lives. Thumbs Up

Larry H · Posted: Mon Mar 06, 2006 3:50 am Post subject:

Tom,

What Ray said. Thumbs Up

JamesTXSD · Posted: Mon Mar 06, 2006 7:45 am Post subject: Well done...

Well done, Tom, Sark, and John,
Good job - your compassion and clear thinking helped prevent an incident from becoming a tragedy. Shows what good people on a good boat can do.

Best wishes,
Jim & Joan

El and Bill · Posted: Mon Mar 06, 2006 8:09 am Post subject:

Job well done, skipper!! Our hats off to you and your crew!

flapbreaker · Posted: Mon Mar 06, 2006 8:45 am Post subject:

Wow. It must feel great to know you saved someone's life. These poor folks were not too far from a tradgic ending. It sounds like you guys really know the area well and it payed off. Cocktail

Bearh · Posted: Mon Mar 06, 2006 9:11 am Post subject: Attaboy

Attaboy!

Bruce Holly

Valkyrie · Posted: Mon Mar 06, 2006 9:23 am Post subject:

Very impressive seamanship and concern for your fellow man!

Nick
"Valkyrie"

dotnmarty · Posted: Mon Mar 06, 2006 9:26 am Post subject:

Congratulations on your rescue and thanks for writing it up. I'm gonna be more disciplined about wearing my life jacket.

Sneaks · Posted: Mon Mar 06, 2006 9:27 am Post subject:

Attaboys from So Cal as well. Looking forward to the Bayliner owner's story. They'll never look at a C-Dory again without remembering the rescue.

Don

Alyssa Jean · Posted: Mon Mar 06, 2006 9:35 am Post subject:

Way to go Tom and crew. Congratulations on a safe save to you all.

nscogin · Posted: Mon Mar 06, 2006 9:42 am Post subject:

Tom--

I hope you're around if I ever get in trouble. You and your buddies are heroes.

Norma

rogerbum · Posted: Mon Mar 06, 2006 10:13 am Post subject:

Good work Tom! It will be interesting to learn what happened with the Bayliner. A 20' Trophy (if operated properly) should be able to take on most any kind of water that a 22'C-Dory can - I know that sounds a bit heretical on this site but those Trophy's are fairly capable boats.