Cold Sailboarder Rescued at Sea
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It was a cold, bumpy day on Cape Cod's waters for Mark Wilson.
Mark Wilson was out in some wild conditions Monday when a wave sucked his sailboard right out from under him, stranding him for hours in the cold Cape Cod Bay.
Despite his cold water wetsuit, the 45-year-old Roxbury, Conn. man was quite cold when rescuers reached him about three-quarters of a mile offshore in the choppy waters off Chapin Beach in Dennis, the Cape Cod Times reports.
He was also seasick after being out in the stormy sea for more than two hours.
"Those were the worst conditions I've seen in 30 years of operating a boat," Lt. Stephen Iacovelli, of the Barnstable Fire Department, told the Times.
Wind gusts reached 40 mph and seas rose to 15 feet at times Monday, the paper reports. Air and water temperatures were in the 50s and there was the occasional downpour. It was not the ideal day at the beach on Cape Cod for most, but those are the conditions for which boardsailors, like Wilson, and kite sailors, look.
"Sometimes it was all flat and calm, and then there would be waves all around you," Adrian Johnson of Mattapoisett told the newspaper.
Wilson told officials a wave sucked the board right out from under him around noon. He was treated at Cape Cod Hospital and released.
Copyright Associated Press / NBC Connecticut
Posted Sunday, Jul 19, 2009 - 10:04 PM EST
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