Video/Photos of Coast Guard Rescue of Sailboat Occupants Off NJ
Thursday, May 30, 2019
ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. (May 30, 2019)(Gloucestercitynews.net)— Coast Guard crews rescued a man and woman from a capsized sailboat about 65 miles east of Atlantic City late Wednesday night.
The Coast Guard’s Fifth District Command Center in Portsmouth, Virginia, was notified of the vessel’s distress after receiving an alert from the crew’s Electronic Position Indicating Radio Beacon.
Watchstanders called the emergency contact registered with the EPIRB, who said the mariners have been sailing around the world for the past few years on the 55-foot wooden-hull sailboat, Bertie, and the last leg of the trip had been from the Bahamas to New York City.
The vessel was outside of range for VHF and cell reception, so watchstanders directed the Coast Guard 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.
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.
RELATED: COAST GUARD RESCUE OF SAILBOAT CREW