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Alas our story begins. It took a little bit of negotiation
with Mother Nature to let us go but after a few hours, she decided to
help us out and the rain and fog lifted enough for us to get under way.
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We all now understand why Steve Mitchell has earned the nickname 'Sheets'. No sooner than an hour out of port was the guy in his bed catching up on his beauty sleep! Actually, since the start of the trip most of us have have found our ways into some interesting nicknames. |
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Sunday, Apr 9. Here's an exciting story. Sunday evening at about nine o'clock we got a call for a SAR (Search and Rescue). We weren't supposed to be going flying since our flying cycle was over. A one man sailboat was in distress not too far from where our ship was. We picked up the SAR where the Coast Guard had left off that evening. Steve Hainse, Sheets, Shawn, and Dave Stephan (aka Gloria) took off first. The second crew (Dave Keddy, Barry, Allan, and Pete (aka Fester... you should see his new hair cut!) launched about three hours later. About an hour into the second flight, Al spotted the boat (cudos to the Cowboy crew!). It was in three pieces. We finally managed to get a diver into the water to try to investigate, but the high winds, dark night, and three meter waves made it very difficult for him even to swim to the boat let alone see if anyone was inside. Our diver banged several times on the overturned hull to see if there was anyone under, but there was no answer. We were onsite for about an hour before the ship got a boat in the water to investigate further. The ship decided to wait until morning before sending divers inside the boat. The boys didn't find anything, just some of the man's belongings. We were all very proud to have been able to help the Coast Guard given the difficult conditions of the evening, but at the same time quite disappointed to learn the man was lost at sea. |
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