A boating party of four adults endured over three harrowing hours off the coast of Fire Island, in the open Atlantic Ocean, before the dramatic U.S. Coast Guard (USCG) water rescue was safely achieved.
The distress call was received by USCG around 5:45 p.m. on Saturday evening—a 45-foot sport-fishing yacht was caught in dangerously high waves. The two men and two women aboard, aged between 55 and 30, were struggling to navigate the craft under hazardous conditions several miles southwest of Moriches Inlet.
They had departed from the Connetquot River near Oakdale earlier in the day.
A motor lifeboat was deployed from the Shinnecock Coast Guard station in Hampton Bays, but it had trouble reaching the party.
It was ultimately an MH-60 Jayhawk helicopter launched from Cape Cod, MA, that reached the distressed vessel at 8:45 p.m. A USCG rescue swimmer on board the helicopter was dispatched into 12-foot-high waves. The rescue swimmer successfully hoisted all four passengers safely aboard the Jayhawk by 9:45 p.m.
EMS crews met the helicopter at Francis S. Gabreski Airport in Westhampton Beach and medically cleared all rescued passengers.
According to Newsday, a USCG spokesman said that having life jackets and proper radio equipment on the yacht made a difference in the outcome of the case, and added that a small-craft advisory was in effect at the time of the incident.
The yacht was left adrift, and a radio broadcast was placed for boaters in the area of its presence.
