Watch: Coast Guard saves boaters adrift in 12-foot seas off NC coast
Video released by the United States Coast Guard late Friday shows two men being rescued in high winds from cold, 12-foot seas southeast of Cape Fear earlier in the day.
The men sent out a distress signal after the mast on their 34-foot sailing vessel Spin Drift was damaged and the boat became adrift in the tall waves and 21 mph winds, according to a Coast Guard news release.
The video shows the damaged vessel from the air and then films a Coast Guard MH-60 Jayhawk crew hoisting the mariners from their vessel up to the helicopter.
The rescue occurred 86 miles southeast of Cape Fear, according to the Coast Guard.
A Coast Guard HC-130 Hercules plane arrived moments before the Jayhawk and confirmed the boaters were in distress, Coast Guard officials said.
The U.S. Coast Guard Richard Dixon, a fast-response cutter based in Puerto Rico, was 50 miles away and was diverted to help at the scene.
The Jayhawk pilot flew the rescued mariners to Coast Guard Air Station Elizabeth City. The boaters weren’t hurt, according to the Coast Guard.
Keep a ‘sharp outlook’
Their boat, however, remained “a possible hazard to navigation,” according to the Coast Guard release.
“An emergency Broadcast Notice to Mariners was issued, alerting mariners in the area to keep a sharp lookout to avoid a collision,” Coast Guard officials said in the release. “The owners of the vessel will coordinate salvage.”
When cold waters kill
The waters there reached 63.9 degrees on Friday, according to SeaTemperature.info.
Swimmers are advised to treat any water temperature below 70 degrees “with caution,” according to ColdWaterSafety.org.
Water that’s 50 degrees to 60 degrees “can kill you in less than a minute,” according to the site. “It’s actually so dangerous that it kills a lot of people within seconds. Not because of hypothermia or incapacitation, but rather because of cold shock and swimming failure.”