British couple saved in daring rescue at sea
Published: June 5, 2007
A Coast Guard helicopter crew battled 15-foot waves and 45 mph winds to rescue a British couple stranded 230 miles southeast of Nantucket yesterday.
Honora Askew and Dennis Hopton, both 50 and residents of the United Kingdom, were flown to safety hours after the Coast Guard received an emergency beacon signal at 4:20 a.m., when the pair’s 33-foot sailboat had a possible mechanical failure of some kind, Coast Guard Lt. j.g. Ryan Tickell said yesterday.
Coast Guard officials are still investigating and aren’t sure of the cause of the boat’s mechanical trouble.
The couple, who did not require medical attention and did not want to talk to reporters, left Newport News, Va., several days ago bound for home.
Tickell said the couple’s problems started Sunday night, when they encountered the remnants of Tropical Storm Barry.
Just before 6 a.m., an HU-25 Falcon jet was dispatched from Air Station Cape Cod but didn’t make contact with the boat until an hour later, Tickell said.
The Falcon crew dropped survival gear and a life raft to the sailors, but they were unable to retrieve the items because of the rough seas.
Lt. Dave Hall, Lt. j.g. Adam Young, rescue swimmer Nick Mills and aviation maintenance technician Ben Sloan then made their way to the scene in a Jayhawk helicopter, fighting a stiff headwind the entire way.
Once on scene, Mills descended in a harness into the water, pulling the water-logged couple one at a time into the basket.
Although Mills said it only took 18 minutes to complete the rescue, the rain and high seas made every minute a challenge.
“I believe those were one of the worst conditions I’ve been in,” Mills said.
With 15- to 20-foot waves, Sloan said they had to change the way they usually do things.
Although crews regularly practice plucking survivors out of the water from as high 40 feet, the pilot had to climb to 70 feet periodically during yesterday’s rescue because of huge swells, which had rolled the sailboat over several times, Sloan said.
After leaving the scene, the pilot was forced to land in Nantucket for a few hours and wait for a break in the weather to return to Air Station Cape Cod.
Askew and Hopton declined to comment, but Mills and Sloan said the couple was just happy to be alive.
Safe on land, and after clearing customs, Askew and Hopton were given a change of clothes and will likely stay in a hotel until further arrangements can be made.
Their boat, however, is still adrift.
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