Stormy Boat Rescue on 4th

A racing yacht was rescued 36 miles southeast of Montauk Point on the Fourth of July by a boat deployed from the Coast Guard station on Star Island.



“Initially, our mission was to escort them,” Petty Officer Second Class Ismael Velasquez said Monday. “We were the only offshore vessel. It was kind of a gamble.”



He said that the Shinnecock Coast Guard station had been shut down due to rough seas from Hurricane Arthur. When the 47-foot-long Coast Guard boat came alongside the Glim, a nearly 40-foot sailboat with an electric engine that was returning to Norwalk, Conn., after having competed in this year’s Newport to Bermuda race, it quickly became clear to the petty officer and his three-man crew that more than just an escort was needed.



“They had lost their jib,” said Jason Fiero, a machinery technician second class. “They weren’t getting anywhere. The electric engine failed.”



The Glim, owned by William R. Klein of the Norwalk Yacht Club, was being operated by Peter Kerrin, Petty Officer Velasquez said, with one passenger, who was not identified. Mr. Klein was not on board.



The wind was picking up, as were the waves. The Glim brought down its sails, and then the Coast Guard crew lashed the yacht to their vessel. The trip back to Montauk took almost four hours.



“By that time, we were getting hit with occasional 6-footers,” the petty officer said of the conditions as they returned. “The wind was 20 knots.”



The Glim was taken to the Montauk Marine Basin, where the crew of the Coast Guard boat boarded the yacht to make a post-search and rescue check, which the Glim passed.



Mr. Kerrin and his passenger rode out the storm in Montauk, and set sail the next morning for Connecticut.