Page 14
topside
Volume 114, Issue 4
5NR Boat Crews Rescue People Throughout the Area
On the Next two pages you will read about two rescues that occurred when members of 5NR encountered sinking
boats while on patrol. The first occurred during the patrol season in 2016 and was never included in TOPSIDE
until now, an egregious error that has been corrected. The second occurred this patrol season.
A BUSY WEEKEND ON THE SUSQUEHANNA
Article by Jeff Kuhn, DCDR Div 19
Saturday, 11 June 2016 began like most summer weekends with pleasant weather and light winds. Boating traffic was average.
COMO Ken Brown and Jason Flynn were coxswains on Ken’s Trophy 222896. Crew were Tim Marks and Ed Ross
(trainee). Things got busy after lunch with a call for assistance down by Sluice One. During the ensuing tow they came upon
another distressed vessel. After dropping the first at Lake Clarke Marina, they returned for the second, and another tow.
Shortly after returning to Station Long Level, the phone rang yet again. This time the distress was at the dam, for a disabled
vessel unable to anchor, tied to one of the exclusion ATONs above the flood gates. If you have never experienced a tow
from the dam, it is a very long trip—so much for a dinner break. All told, 11 people were assisted by 896 on Saturday.
Saturday was a “walk in the park” compared to Sunday. The high pressure and low pressure systems danced about in just the
right way to produce a building pressure gradient as the day progressed. When the current is strong from the north and the
wind is strong from the south, Lake Clarke can develop into quite a choppy body of water. Coxswain COMO Ken Brown, at
around 1130, had no sooner broached the subject to his crew, Dave Inglis, Jason Flynn and Robert Goley (trainee) that the
patrol would need to be curtailed, when they came upon a sinking boat. Four adults were in the water. A civilian vessel had
already rescued four children. Ken and his crew rescued the four adults from the water. All, including the children, were
uninjured. Affecting a water rescue in such rough conditions in a 25 kt wind is difficult, and the crew performed admirably.
This is why we train and train and then train some more! Fortunately, the 896 is a 22-foot deep-V vessel and has relatively
good stability in dicey conditions. Children and adults were safely transported to the Lock 2 public docks.
Incidental to the rescue, 911 had been called by a near-by vessel. Unfortunately the position was reported to be four miles
north of the actual position. River Rescue eventually arrived on the scene and towed the swamped boat back to the public
dock. Notably, we would not have taken a vessel in this flooded condition in a tow. The con fusion over the event location
highlights the problem of our inability to talk directly with fire and rescue facilities. We were forced to communicate from
our surface vessel to our Watchstander, then to 911 by phone and finally to the emergency responders. We have since had
several conversations with EMA administrators and are working on obtaining suitable radios from Lancaster EMA that
could be used in such an emergency. Luckily in this case all the PIWs were visible. If a search had been required, much
precious time would have been wasted while other responding agencies were guided in to the datum.
An additional sub-plot to the story was the distressed
vessel itself: a 20-foot Tracker with eight POB, out on a
day with 25 kt wind and 2 1/2-foot chop. The owner
(who had just purchased the new boat) reported that his
bow was plowing into the chop. Hence the hull filled
with water. Needed: BOATER SAFETY COURSE!!
COMO Ken Brown’s Trophy 222896 on patrol at Lake
Clarke on the Susquehanna River near Station Long Level
during a previous patrol.
Photo taken by Tim Marks