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Coast Guard copter crew hailed for boat rescue

Staff file photo by JIM FARQUHAR

The tribute was held by the Coast Guard Foundation, a non-profit organization committed to the education, welfare and morale of Coast Guard members and their families.

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By PETER BERNARD

pbernard@wfla.com

Published: November 12, 2009

It was back on May, 19 when the crew of a U.S. Coast Guard helicopter got the call about a sailboat in distress 160 miles off the coast of Cape Canaveral. The Clearwater-based chopper took off in bad weather, and arrived at the sailboat to find it even worse.

What happened on that afternoon to the sailboat called the Candlewick and the three people on board caught the eyes of Coast Guard officials, who said their crew members deserved recognition.

Thursday night, they got it at the 16th annual tribute to the men and women of the U.S. Coast Guard 7th District at the Renaissance Vinoy Resort in St. Petersburg.

The commander of the Jayhawk helicopter says the rescue proved to be a challenge.

"The vessel was a sailboat, so it had two masts sticking up. So they were flopping around which made a potential hoist difficult," said Lt. Jeff Cowan. He said the crew had to keep a keen eye on their fuel consumption, having flown across Florida and then out to sea so many miles.

"We thought we were gonna leave one on scene. But due to the fact we had good tailwind going back, I recalculated and we had enough time to pick our last survivor up," said Lt. Dewey Lawson, the co-pilot for the chopper.

To accomplish the rescue, Coast Guard swimmer Petty Officer Mark Pipkin had to instruct the three people on the sailboat to jump into the water, one at a time, to be hoisted to the chopper safely.

"Getting into those type of seas it's a very humbling experience" Pipkin said.

After about 45 minutes at the sailboat, the chopper headed for land in Melbourne. The survivors made it ashore without needing medical attention.

The crew refueled and returned to Clearwater.

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