The Coast Guard rescued three people after their boat capsized in East Bay near Houston, TX on Saturday.
Coast Guard Sector Houston-Galveston watchstanders received a call from one of the persons in the water at approximately 3:15 p.m., stating that their 36-foot catamaran had capsized. The three were unable to put on their life jackets.
The Coast Guard launched a 25-foot Response Boat-Small and crew from Station Galveston and a MH-65C Dolphin rescue helicopter and crew from Air Station Houston to assist.
The RBS crew was able to reach two of the people in the water. But due to the catamaran’s rigging in the water, the small boat crew was unable to reach the third person. The helicopter lowered a rescue swimmer to assist the third person, an elderly man, and help him to the RBS.
The three people in the water were rescued without injury.
“This was an instance that our training came into play. All of us working together made this rescue run smoothly and without unnecessary risks,” said Petty Officer 3rd Class Josh Magie, an aviation survival technician at Air Station Houston.
Courtesy of www.coastguardnews.com.
How do you capsize that large of a cat???
I think it would be a great idea if whomever first put this out (other than the CG) would re-write the Coast Guard-speak so that it’s in English. Just a thought.
You capsize a large cat by fai8ling to reef in a strong enough wind. On Nov. 21, the official Houston site recorded gusts to 30. One may assume that over the bay, winds were stronger. The article about the capsize is dated Nov. 22.
You capsize a cat by overpowering it in heavy air or by wave action in heavy seas or both. Most 36ft cruising cats are pretty old now and therefore probably this was a narrow one with less than 50% beam:length. Other question to ask re Houston sailing is what happened after the capsize – did the mast stick in the mud ;O ?