Coast Guard crews rescued a man and woman from a capsized sailboat in rough seas about 65 miles east of Atlantic City, NJ, late Wednesday night. Heidi Snyder and Peter Bailey, who have been sailing around the world for two years, were traveling from South Carolina to New York City when a microburst capsized their 55-foot wooden-hull sailboat, Bertie.
Beyond the range of VHS radio, the couple activated their EPIRB (Emergency Position Indicating Radio Beacon) which allowed the Coast Guard to locate them clinging to the capsized hull.
“I was pretty confident we would survive, but I was fearing that I would have a cardiac arrest from hypothermia,” Bailey said.
“I literally had him inside my body, like in my jacket and inside,” Snyder said. “What do you do in that situation? You survive. You act on your instinct. You do whatever you can to survive.”
The Coast Guard dispatched the Cutter Lawrence Lawson, an Air Station Atlantic City MH-65 Dolphin helicopter crew and an Air Station Elizabeth City HC-130 Hercules airplane crew to the EPIRB’s location, where the sailboat was found capsized.
“When our helicopter arrived on-scene, the crew followed a blinking strobe light and discovered a man and a woman clinging to the hull of their capsized sailboat,” said Lt. Tyler Bittner, the operations duty officer in Atlantic City.
Both mariners were hoisted aboard the MH-65 Dolphin helicopter and brought back to Air Station Atlantic City, where they were met by awaiting EMS.
The Coast Guard Cutter Lawrence Lawson remained on scene to mark the sailboat and attempt to recover the EPIRB.
“This was an extremely challenging hoist due to on-scene conditions, but the entire crew came together to work as a team to get the job done,” said Lt. Anthony Monteforte, one of the helicopter pilots on the case. “I am extremely proud of my crew and all of the other assets that aided in this rescue and thankful that the survivors onboard used a currently registered EPIRB so that we could quickly locate them.”
From its Facebook page, the sailboat Bertie, is described as a heavy yawl built on the general lines of Slocum’s SPRAY. Designed and built by Peter W. Bailey, Sausalito, California, 1976-84.
#USCG aircrew from Air Station Atlantic City hoists two mariners from a capsized sailboat 65 miles east of Atlantic City, #NewJersey! https://t.co/bwyLdXunx3 pic.twitter.com/aivwWiRccB
— USCG Mid-Atlantic (@uscgmidatlantic) May 30, 2019
A job well done, USCG. Well done indeed.
This inspired me to check on my own ERPB. Expired. I’m sure it works but am going to figure out a way to sent it stateside soon. All my other safety gear is aok.
Good work U.S. Coast Guard and good work mariners, in being prepared.
I hope they are insured. Many a boater on YouTube that have lost the boat and become homeless with no insurance.