Lives saved
2
Fishing
Ocean
Weather
Rogue wave
Ocean Isle, NC
33.8943393°N, -78.426672°W
Posted on May 2, 2018 by JOSEPH
What happened?
My friend and I were 35 miles off Ocean Isle, NC on a fishing trip. My boat was a 25′ center console with twin 225HP Mercury Optimax motors on the back.We were anchored over a wreck bottom fishing.After about two hours of fishing, we noticed water on the floor and the bilge pumps running. The waves had built to about 6 feet at this time. We attempted to open the hatch to see what fitting had broken and was letting water into the inner hull. Before we could do this, two waves washed over the back of the boat and the third wave capsized the boat. This took less than one minute. We did not have time to send a mayday out on the marine radio. We climbed on the hull and sat for a minute. The water was in the 50s. On the third attempt, we retrieved the EPIRB that was hung inside the center console. The unit performed flawlessly. In about an hour, a jet from the South Carolina national Guard flew over us and drooped a flare indicating that ha had seen us. In another three hours, a US Coast Guard helicopter from Elisabeth City, NC came to us. they airlifted us to the Wilmington airport where our families were waiting for us. The boat finally washed up on shore about 100 miles south in South Carolina about three weeks later. Your product definitely saved our lives.
Words of wisdom
You never know what may happen next.
Thank you note
Thank you ACR!
Rescue location
Ocean Isle, NC
Rescue team
Other