In case it was missed by the fleet in the squall of last night-- the skipper of Wabbit fell overboard. Beagle was the first boat to get to the man whose head kept being covered in water. We got a life line and life preserver to him; he used the preserver briefly but then he slipped through it and went under and remained face down for about 2 minutes . One of our crew jumped in to rescue him and was able to hold his head out of the water, and we eventually got the 250lb+ man aboard Beagle, but he was then pulseless, cyanosed and not breathing. We did CPR for >30 minutes as we got the person to the nearest land/dock and EMS finally arrived. According to the news today he is in critical condition.
Lessons to be learned--if a front is predicted be sure that you are not under crewed-- and there are at least 2 people who could in emergency helm the boat in adverse conditions. If something like a man overboard occurs in those conditions alert the fleet through a radio call to the committee boat and call 911. It would have been ideal if we had access to a power boat to have reached the drowning victim faster and to have gotten him to shore quicker.
Beagle's crew worked magnificently to accomplish what we did. It took 4 people (one in the water) to get this man into the transom. I am very proud of the efforts made to give this person the best possible care and sincerely wish that the outcome could have been better,
Colin Mackenzie,
Skipper Beagle
Here is a news article from an Annapolis paper...
Sailboat Race Ends in Tragedy
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