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The January issue of "Coastal Crusing", a boating magazine, has an article about a sailboating couple who rescued two divers in Buzzards Bay Mass. (USA). It shows why it is a good idea to tell somebody when and where you are going and to call for help if you don't check in by a preset time. The sailors were heading home after a day of sailing back in November when they thought they heard voices. They were too far from land for that so it got their attention. Then they heard a whistle and spotted two guys in scuba gear in the water. Both were on the surface with BC's inflated. The thinner one of the two was so weak from the cold that he couldn't climb their swim ladder and they had to pull him in the boat. Fortunately it was a small boat and was low enough to the water that they could. The bigger guy was too big for them to pull in but was in good physical shape and wasn't suffering from hypothermia as bad, so he was able to roll into the dinghy that they were towing and then brought aboard. The divers said they went in on a wreck dive and came up and their boat was gone. They had been adrift for 5 hours. Although they were wearing wetsuits, both were hypothermic. They were also extremely thirsty. The divers said that they had tried to flag down several power boats but no one saw or heard them. The currents were carrying them out to sea. Fortunately for the divers, the sail boat had just shut it's engine off. The captain was trying to charge a dead battery with it, but it wouldn't charge so he killed the engine. Another stroke of luck for the divers: The sailing couple had planned to stay at another harbor for the night, but it was crowded so they went home. The divers were spotted shortly before dark. The captain called the Coast Guard and they dispatched a boat and had an ambulance waiting on shore, although the divers seemed to be doing OK after being wrapped in blankets and given warm drinks. A fisherman reported finding a boat adrift with a dive flag flying. He tied it down and the Coast Guard retrieved it and towed it back in for the divers. Rick +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+ Please send messages for the WreckDiver list to: wreckdiver@wreckdiver.com Send subscription and help requests to: wreckdiver-request@wreckdiver.com +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
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