MIKE WHITEHEAD -- The Harbor Column

Ahoy.

“These guys are so lucky to be alive,” Newport Harbor master Capt.

Marty Kasules said to me, referring to the three researchers who were

rescued after being aboard a 24-foot boat that capsized in the ocean

Tuesday afternoon.

That morning, I noticed the small craft warning flag flying at the

Harbor Department, and I observed the Santa Ana winds blowing about 20

mph. These winds can create dangerous sea conditions after the blowing

air clears the bluffs and hits the water. The winds catch the

inexperienced or unsuspecting boaters off guard when they set course to

the harbor entrance pounding into the seas with a head wind.

Well, a faint mayday call was heard that afternoon by an Orange County

Sheriff’s Department dispatcher who monitors boaters’ VHF channel 16

radio traffic. The caller had only a few moments before being tossed into

the ocean, but he was wise enough to include the latitude and longitude

coordinates from the onboard global positioning system unit. That was the

life-saving information that allowed the dispatcher to plug in the

coordinates into her GPS chart plotter, showing that the position was

more than six miles off the coast.

The harbor department’s operating territory is out only three miles,

but knowing lives needed to be saved, Deputies Pat Douglass and Rick

Koyaides climbed aboard one of the fireboats and were immediately

dispatched to the coordinates.

Upon arriving in the area, the deputies could not see any persons in

the water due to the 30-knot winds and 5-foot swells.

Overhead was a U.S. Coast Guard helicopter also searching for any

survivors.

Luck would prevail as the fireboat crew turned one way and not the

another way to start a search pattern and they spotted the men’s heads

bobbing in the water. All three were wearing their lifejackets in the

60-degree water.

It is very difficult to recover people from the water when the boat is

being swiftly blown by the winds in that choppy current.

The deputies had to maneuver the fireboat so that while the boat

drifted by, each researcher could be pulled, one pass at a time, into the

stern of the boat without being hit.

The men, who were in the chilly water for a half-hour, are lucky to be

alive because without the transmitted lat/long info they would have been

extremely hard to find. The rescue was so difficult that the helicopter

crew actually gave the deputies kudos over the radio.

After returning to the docks, the researchers took warm showers and

drank hot coffee, ending an adventure I want to avoid.

What can we learn from this situation? First and foremost, the Harbor

Department staff is very well trained and ready to respond. They serve

our community as a vital resource in Newport Harbor and we need to

recognize this and include the department in our local events.

Secondly, I have said many times: Always, and I mean always, have your

vessel’s safety equipment readily accessible and show your guests where

the, for example, lifejackets are located before you leave the dock.

If these men had not grabbed their lifejackets before being thrown in

the water, I think the outcome probably would have been different -- and

not for the better.

Lastly, know your position so that in an emergency, you can radio your

position even if nothing else at all gets transmitted. Transmitting your

position over channel 16 not only alerts rescue resources but also, many

times, a nearby boater will hear the call and come to aid you.

***

Tip of week: If you do not like the changes being introduced for next

year’s Christmas Boat Parade, then get involved with the event.

It was completely unacceptable and such a cowardly act to make threats

against Brett Hemphill, who had the misfortune of being the volunteer

chairman when these changes were proposed.

The proposed changes were announced many times in the newspaper, at

meetings, in my column and from mail surveys, so there is no excuse to

say, “I didn’t know until now.” Every parade meeting I have attended was

open to those who cared enough to volunteer helping to make the parade a

reality every year.

I have never seen anyone turned away from a meeting, whether a chamber

member or not.

The Commodores Club of the Newport Harbor Area Chamber of Commerce

organizes the event and its members have helped unselfishly in the

community. So shame on those who sent threats and did not have the

courage to simply come to the meetings and help with the decision-making

process to save the parade.

In closing, I wonder how many of those who sent threats have actually

in the past or now helped sponsor the parade to keep it afloat?

Safe voyages.

* MIKE WHITEHEAD is the Pilot’s boating and harbor columnist. Send him

your harbor and marine-related thoughts and story suggestions via e-mail

to o7 [email protected] or o7 https://www.BoathouseTV.comf7 .