See Cold Water Safety for more info
Three Men Rescued from Overturned Kayaks Off Cape Henlopen
News from the Delaware Department of Natural Resources and Environmental
Control.
May 21, 2007
Volume 37, Number 190
Contact: Sgt. Greg Rhodes, Fish and Wildlife Enforcement Section, phone:
(302) 739-9913 or Joanna Wilson, Public Affairs, phone: (302) 739-9902
Three Men Rescued from Overturned Kayaks Off Cape Henlopen
DNREC officers helped rescue three men from the ocean off Cape Henlopen
after their kayaks overturned in wind and waves on May 16.
Timothy Parsons, 20, of Camden, Del., Josh McHenry, 25, of Lebanon, Pa.,
and Eric Bosco, 21, of Magnolia, Del., were treated for hypothermia and
released from Beebe Medical Center in Lewes following the rescue.
Cape Henlopen State Park Ranger Steve Savidge spotted and reported the
three men and two kayaks in the water at 3:49 p.m. Corp. Casey Zolper of
Division of Fish and Wildlife Enforcement responded and took a marine
patrol boat out, locating them easily since the Delaware State Police
helicopter was hovering overhead. Two of the men, Parsons and Bosco, were
clinging to one kayak and the third, McHenry, in obvious distress, was
alone hanging onto the other kayak.
"I observed he was having a hard time keeping his head above water due to
the rough seas and his extreme exhaustion," Corp. Zolper said. "I was then
able to throw him a line and pull him to my vessel."
As Corp. Zolper tugged the exhausted man onto his patrol boat, the Lewes
Fire Department arrived and was pulling Parsons and Bosco from the
55-degree water. Corp. Zolper transferred McHenry to the fire department
boat so all three could be taken together to the launch boat dock for
medical attention. Shirtless and wearing bathing suits and old life vests,
all three were suffering from low body temperature and were taken to Beebe
Medical Center in Lewes.
After collecting their kayaks and gear and dropping them off at the Lewes
Coast Guard Station, Corp. Zolper interviewed the three kayakers at the
hospital. The three said they had left the Cape Shores beach between the
state fishing pier and the Cape Shores pier at 3:15 p.m., heading towards
Lewes Beach.
Turning north about 600 yards offshore, the wind and waves began to build.
With the wind at 20 knots gusting to 25 knots and in about 12 feet of
water, a wave hit Parsons and McHenry's two-man kayak, it took on water
and a panicked McHenry leaned into the waves, overturning the vessel.
After they realized how cold the water was, and were unable to right the
kayak, the three men took turns in and out of Bosco's one-man kayak to
keep warm. About 15 minutes after the first kayak flipped, the second also
overturned just after McHenry got in for his turn. The three men were in
the water for about 40 minutes before help arrived.
McHenry, Parsons and Bosco were wearing life jackets, but they were
apparently very old and had become waterlogged.
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This story is also available on DNREC Online at
http://www.dnrec.state.de.us/dnrec2000/admin/press/story1.asp?PRID=2511 or
check the DNREC Online Home Page at
http://www.dnrec.state.de.us .
and at
Three kayakers rescued off Cape Henlopen
some not very informative photos can be seen click here The rescuees are not in the Lewes boat, but their boat is.
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And the ACA has an extensive section on safety.