Coast Guard rescues idiot
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Coast Guard rescues idiot
From the Navy Times
Coast Guard finds windsurfer who went out during storm
Like looking for a black cat in a dark room, the Coast Guard set out after midnight Friday to search for a windsurfer from the Hampton Roads, Va., area who’d gone out the previous afternoon during a tornado watch.
Miraculously, 13 hours later, the service found the missing man.
But he initially declined to be rescued by a helicopter-based aviation survival technician because it meant leaving his board behind.
He was then picked up by the crew of the 87-foot patrol boat Cochito, according to Public Affairs Specialist 2nd Class Lawrence Chambers.
“This is obviously good news,” Chambers said of the stunning rescue, which had the Coast Guard searching for a tiny sail and surfboard at the juncture of the Atlantic Ocean and the Chesapeake Bay. “The survivability model gave him about 15 hours.”
The man, identified by the Coast Guard as a “39-year-old British national who lives in Hampton Roads,” set sail off Virginia Beach at about 3 p.m. Thursday, a time when much of the mid-Atlantic coast was under severe thunderstorm and tornado watches.
He was wearing a short-sleeved wet suit but no life jacket, Chambers said.
The man was reported missing at 11:44 p.m. The Coast Guard then dispatched Cochito, an HH-60 Jayhawk helicopter from Air Station Elizabeth City, N.C., and a 47-foot motor lifeboat crew from Station Little Creek.
At dawn, a C-130, a Coast Guard Auxiliary aircraft, a 41-foot rescue boat and local fire department boats joined the mix. The man was located nearly 16 nautical miles northeast of his starting point, Chambers said.
“The information we got was that he was pretty adventurous with his board and liked to go offshore, so we based our search grid on that,” Chambers said.
The service recommends that all recreational boaters heed weather warnings and craft advisories.
The Coast Guard had posted a small-craft advisory for the time period when the windsurfer went out.
“The lesson here is, when you go out on the water, mind the weather and your safety,” Chambers said.
Like looking for a black cat in a dark room, the Coast Guard set out after midnight Friday to search for a windsurfer from the Hampton Roads, Va., area who’d gone out the previous afternoon during a tornado watch.
Miraculously, 13 hours later, the service found the missing man.
But he initially declined to be rescued by a helicopter-based aviation survival technician because it meant leaving his board behind.
He was then picked up by the crew of the 87-foot patrol boat Cochito, according to Public Affairs Specialist 2nd Class Lawrence Chambers.
“This is obviously good news,” Chambers said of the stunning rescue, which had the Coast Guard searching for a tiny sail and surfboard at the juncture of the Atlantic Ocean and the Chesapeake Bay. “The survivability model gave him about 15 hours.”
The man, identified by the Coast Guard as a “39-year-old British national who lives in Hampton Roads,” set sail off Virginia Beach at about 3 p.m. Thursday, a time when much of the mid-Atlantic coast was under severe thunderstorm and tornado watches.
He was wearing a short-sleeved wet suit but no life jacket, Chambers said.
The man was reported missing at 11:44 p.m. The Coast Guard then dispatched Cochito, an HH-60 Jayhawk helicopter from Air Station Elizabeth City, N.C., and a 47-foot motor lifeboat crew from Station Little Creek.
At dawn, a C-130, a Coast Guard Auxiliary aircraft, a 41-foot rescue boat and local fire department boats joined the mix. The man was located nearly 16 nautical miles northeast of his starting point, Chambers said.
“The information we got was that he was pretty adventurous with his board and liked to go offshore, so we based our search grid on that,” Chambers said.
The service recommends that all recreational boaters heed weather warnings and craft advisories.
The Coast Guard had posted a small-craft advisory for the time period when the windsurfer went out.
“The lesson here is, when you go out on the water, mind the weather and your safety,” Chambers said.
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Rotornut.
Keep the beancounters out of SAR. I can just vision an economic viability study being carried out prior to firing up rescue birds. SAR wouldn't last 1 year anywhere. Anyway hats of to surfer, not only has he dodged a darwin award but now has shot at becoming next president
NB
Keep the beancounters out of SAR. I can just vision an economic viability study being carried out prior to firing up rescue birds. SAR wouldn't last 1 year anywhere. Anyway hats of to surfer, not only has he dodged a darwin award but now has shot at becoming next president
NB
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I had a great conversation with a coastie who was really not happy that he made a living risking his life to save people who, to a great part had made their own bed through ignorance, foolish pride or stupidity. He said that sometimes he would like to "drop a pump to them, onto their fantail, from 300 feet!!"
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In Arizona, when a river bottom has no water in it, we call it a river. When a river bottom has water in it, we call it a flood. Continuing on with this brilliant thinking, the road engineers build roads which cross through the rivers. So when it rains and the river actually has water in it, people in their cars try to cross it even though it can get very deep for a short period of time. Needless to say, the various rescue agencies get busy pulling people off their cars by rope or using helicopters to pull people off their cars.
The cities have passed ordinances requiring payment if you are rescued from a flood in the event you drove into it thinking your car was actually amphibious. I guess the point is, stupid people do stupid things and sometimes you wonder if maybe on some occassions we should not look for these people..........
The cities have passed ordinances requiring payment if you are rescued from a flood in the event you drove into it thinking your car was actually amphibious. I guess the point is, stupid people do stupid things and sometimes you wonder if maybe on some occassions we should not look for these people..........
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Don't they have runners-up lists for the Darwin Awards? This guy obviously deserves to be entered!
It just goes to show that we Brits have complete idiots as well!
Please keep him over there!!
bondu
It just goes to show that we Brits have complete idiots as well!
Please keep him over there!!bondu
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By rescuing some of these people we are fighting natural selection, mother natures way of enhancing the human race.
The good thing for us pilots is in 50 years there will be so many people doing stupid stuff like that, that we will need more pilots and machines!!!!
The bad thing is that the human race will be dumber but hey we get more flying,
so Lets encourage people to go be dumb then....
The good thing for us pilots is in 50 years there will be so many people doing stupid stuff like that, that we will need more pilots and machines!!!!
The bad thing is that the human race will be dumber but hey we get more flying,
so Lets encourage people to go be dumb then....
