Rescue in Wolfboro

[SIKSUKR]

Three rescued from Wolfeboro Bay


Tuesday, September 1, 2009
WOLFEBORO - A member of the N.H. Marine Patrol Auxiliary pulled a young girl from the waters of Wolfeboro Bay after a sailboat capsized on Monday and two others were rescued when Marine Patrol arrived.

Marine Patrol received a call at 5:11 p.m. advising that a sailboat had capsized and three people were in the water. Upon arrival, they found the two other passengers in the water attempting to right their vessel while the child was with the Auxiliary officer.

Marine Patrol assisted in getting the boat to the beach at Brewster Academy where it was righted.

All three people had been wearing personal flotation devices and no one required medical attention so they were returned to their camp.

Officials say extreme winds and rough conditions contributed to the boat capsizing.

[ApS]

As a long-time Hobie-Cat sailor, I can say that there's nothing wrong with an occasional capsize!

But what were they thinking?

Monday had clear skies until near sunset, and was awful windy for any kind of boating. I saw only a few boats of any kind; even then, most waited until late in the afternoon to venture out. Monday's winds were especially bad for a small sailboat, and an invitation for a capsize. I stayed on shore and watched the rollers coming my way.

(A log is being updated daily as to sailing conditions here this season at the "Sailing" thread).

On the other hand, I haven't read anything from the Marine Patrol Auxiliary since August of 2001. At that time, MPA member William Fraley of Tuftonboro wrote in the Granite State News to decry the general lack of support for the MPA and that things were getting out of control on the lake.

That the Marine Patrol Auxiliary is still around is good news.

[RI Swamp Yankee]

Originally Posted by SIKSUKR

... All three people had been wearing personal flotation devices and no one required medical attention so they were returned to their camp......

No doubt that made a big difference to the outcome of this story. Glad they are all safe.

[Airwaves]

I didn't know the Marine Patrol Auxiliary was still active. What radio freq do they use?

[NoBozo]

When I was training myself for Serious Offshore Sailing...I couldn't wait for big wind and bad weather to go out sailing. Excellent Training and Confidence building. NB

[Belmont Resident]

Monday morning I traveled from the Weirs to a job on Rattlesnake Island. The water was pretty calm before the Glendale area, but after that it got really bad to the point where even in a 26 foot boat I had to slow down to about 20mph just before reaching Diamond Island.
We watched the wind blow hard till about 5pm. We all agreed that there were 3 and maybe 4 foot waves on the southern tip of Rattlesnake Island.

I'd also like to thank the boaters (AKA boneheads) traveling from their island home on Monday morning into Glendale. The sun was shining and casting a bright glare across much of the lake in front of me. This person had a low profile old boat with full windshield to stern top up. I was traveling on a direct course from the witches to Rattlesnake with no deviation. From out of the swells comes this boat at a 90 degree angle to me. Because of the sun I never saw them and passed about 30 feet across his bow. Close enough to see them clearly while I flipped them off.
The one thing I’ve noticed since traveling the distance to Rattlesnake is that the island residents that are traveling about in the morning seem to have little of no reguard for the rules of the water. In the past month not one boater has obeyed the right of way while I was traveling to or from Rattlesnake and the sad thing is most of them were either coming or going from Glendale.