SAILORS ABANDON SHIP 400 MILES OFF VIRGINIA COAST

May 9, 2005

PORTSMOUTH, Va. – A local Coast Guard command center is coordinating the rescue efforts today of two men in a life raft approximately 400 miles east of Virginia Beach, Va.

Thomas Tighe, from Patterson, N.Y., and Lochlin Reidy, from Woodbridge, Conn., abandoned their 45-foot sailing vessel, Almeisan, after encountering 28 to 33-knot winds and taking on water from 16 to 20-foot seas. Three additional sailors, Donald Burd, from Dover, N.H., Christopher Ferrer, from Sterling, Mass., and Kathleen Gilchrist, from Bloomfield, N.J., choose to stay aboard the Almeisan.

Coast Guard Rescue Coordination Center Norfolk (RCC) received a Electronic Positioning Indicating Radio Beacon (EPRIB) from the Almeisan at 6 a.m. today and launched a C-130 airplane from Coast Guard Air Station Elizabeth City, N.C. When the airplane arrived at the Almeisan, the sailors told rescuers that the life raft, which had been tethered to the Almeisan, had broken free and Tighe and Reidy had drifted from the sail boat.

The aircrew dropped a second life raft and a dewatering pump to the Almeisan and began searching for Tighe and Reidy. Shortly after, the aircrew located the covered life raft about 50 miles away.

Four AMVER vessels has been diverted and the nearest one is expected to arrive at the life raft at 2 p.m. today. A Coast Guard HH-60 helicopter, also from Elizabeth City, is currently aboard USS Trenton, about 300 miles from the life raft, and ready to assist if necessary. The C-130 airplane will remain with the life raft until the additional rescue assets arrive.

The sailors were on a voyage from Bridgeport, Conn., to Bermuda when they encountered the severe weather.

This is the fifth weather-related search and rescue case RCC Norfolk has coordinated in the past three days. The Coast Guard urges all mariners to make preparations when planning a voyage on the water, whether it be for one hour or one week. Some of the basic recommendations are to check the weather before and during your trip, tell a family or friend where you are going and when you will return, wear you life jacket while underway, and always have a reliable means of communications, such as a marine radio and EPIRB – not just a cell phone. Additional information and tips on safe boating can be found at http://www.uscgboating.org/

SAILORS ABANDON SHIP 400 MILES OFF VIRGINIA COAST

PORTSMOUTH, Va. – A local Coast Guard command center is coordinating the rescue efforts today of two men in a life raft approximately 400 miles east of Virginia Beach, Va.

The aircrew dropped a second life raft and a dewatering pump to the Almeisan and began searching for Tighe and Reidy. Shortly after, the aircrew located the covered life raft about 50 miles away.

The sailors were on a voyage from Bridgeport, Conn., to Bermuda when they encountered the severe weather.

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