By MARK HUME
Thursday, July 14, 2005 Updated at 5:20 AM EDT
From Thursday's Globe and Mail
Vancouver For nearly eight hours after a woman fell overboard into the cold Pacific Ocean at the mouth of the Fraser River, a massive search effort failed to find any sign of her.
Then marine radio crackled with an amazing message from a vessel so far away it was not only off the most distant margins of the search grid, but beyond the imaginations of search-and-rescue officials.
"This is the sailing vessel Marinka. I have her," skipper Hermann Hartmann, who was boating on the far western side of the strait, called out on the radio.
Canadian Coast Guard Captain Susan Pickrell, whose Hovercraft, Siyay, was part of the air-and-sea effort concentrating on the east side of the strait, said it was hard to believe -- but the missing woman had been found alive, about five hours after she should have died from hypothermia, and an amazing 24 kilometres from where she had gone into the water.
"It is a miracle she was found. She was swimming away from our search area . . . and she was swimming far faster than we ever expected," said Capt. Pickrell, who added that the woman went toward the Marinka when its crew spotted her.
"She was still swimming. The Marinka pulled up alongside and she climbed aboard. She said she figured she had about 15 minutes left," said Capt. Pickrell, whose vessel took the woman aboard and began emergency treatment.
"She was severely hypothermic but she was cognizant. She could speak to us," Capt. Pickrell said. Her crew began giving the woman heated oxygen to warm her body core.
The temperature of the tidal water in the strait averages 10 to 15 degrees in summer. Maximum survival time in that range is supposed to be about two to three hours.
The woman, whose name has not been released, fell overboard at 4:30 a.m., as her nine-metre yacht called Benedicte approached an area known as the Sand Heads in the Fraser estuary. Two crewmates sleeping below did not realize the 40-year-old woman had gone until some time later when the Benedicte ran aground.
The woman was found by the Marinka at about 12:30 p.m. in the water between Galiano and Valdes Islands, directly across from the Fraser but on the opposite side of the strait.
Capt. Pickrell was at a loss to explain how the woman, who was dressed only in a fleece sweater and windbreaker pants and was not wearing a personal-flotation device, managed to survive.
She said the woman's clothing, which would have retained heat even when wet, and her ability to keep swimming for so many hours were key factors.
Capt. Pickrell said the Coast Guard's Marine Communications and Traffic Services office did an incredible piece of detective work early in the search, by using the time of the Benedicte's grounding and backtracking to calculate when the yacht's rudder would have suddenly been left unattended, forcing the boat into the wind and allowing it to drift aground.
From that point, the search teams began to work in an ever-expanding grid, taking into account wind and tide patterns and the woman's possible swimming ability.
But Capt. Pickrell said nobody expected to find her as far away as she was.
She said the woman indicated that after she went overboard, just before daybreak, she tried desperately to swim toward shore. But an outgoing tide and the force of the Fraser current pushed her farther and farther out into the strait.
"She tried to swim to the Sand Heads, but she wasn't making any headway, so she decided to turn and go with the current."
This isn't the only miraculous survival story from the popular boating waters between British Columbia's Lower Mainland and the Gulf Islands in the strait. In July of 1993, a man fell off a B.C. ferry, drifted overnight and was rescued in the morning after being in the water eight hours.
Thursday, July 14, 2005 Updated at 5:20 AM EDT
From Thursday's Globe and Mail
Vancouver For nearly eight hours after a woman fell overboard into the cold Pacific Ocean at the mouth of the Fraser River, a massive search effort failed to find any sign of her.
Then marine radio crackled with an amazing message from a vessel so far away it was not only off the most distant margins of the search grid, but beyond the imaginations of search-and-rescue officials.
"This is the sailing vessel Marinka. I have her," skipper Hermann Hartmann, who was boating on the far western side of the strait, called out on the radio.
Canadian Coast Guard Captain Susan Pickrell, whose Hovercraft, Siyay, was part of the air-and-sea effort concentrating on the east side of the strait, said it was hard to believe -- but the missing woman had been found alive, about five hours after she should have died from hypothermia, and an amazing 24 kilometres from where she had gone into the water.
"It is a miracle she was found. She was swimming away from our search area . . . and she was swimming far faster than we ever expected," said Capt. Pickrell, who added that the woman went toward the Marinka when its crew spotted her.
"She was still swimming. The Marinka pulled up alongside and she climbed aboard. She said she figured she had about 15 minutes left," said Capt. Pickrell, whose vessel took the woman aboard and began emergency treatment.
"She was severely hypothermic but she was cognizant. She could speak to us," Capt. Pickrell said. Her crew began giving the woman heated oxygen to warm her body core.
The temperature of the tidal water in the strait averages 10 to 15 degrees in summer. Maximum survival time in that range is supposed to be about two to three hours.
The woman, whose name has not been released, fell overboard at 4:30 a.m., as her nine-metre yacht called Benedicte approached an area known as the Sand Heads in the Fraser estuary. Two crewmates sleeping below did not realize the 40-year-old woman had gone until some time later when the Benedicte ran aground.
The woman was found by the Marinka at about 12:30 p.m. in the water between Galiano and Valdes Islands, directly across from the Fraser but on the opposite side of the strait.
Capt. Pickrell was at a loss to explain how the woman, who was dressed only in a fleece sweater and windbreaker pants and was not wearing a personal-flotation device, managed to survive.
She said the woman's clothing, which would have retained heat even when wet, and her ability to keep swimming for so many hours were key factors.
Capt. Pickrell said the Coast Guard's Marine Communications and Traffic Services office did an incredible piece of detective work early in the search, by using the time of the Benedicte's grounding and backtracking to calculate when the yacht's rudder would have suddenly been left unattended, forcing the boat into the wind and allowing it to drift aground.
From that point, the search teams began to work in an ever-expanding grid, taking into account wind and tide patterns and the woman's possible swimming ability.
But Capt. Pickrell said nobody expected to find her as far away as she was.
She said the woman indicated that after she went overboard, just before daybreak, she tried desperately to swim toward shore. But an outgoing tide and the force of the Fraser current pushed her farther and farther out into the strait.
"She tried to swim to the Sand Heads, but she wasn't making any headway, so she decided to turn and go with the current."
This isn't the only miraculous survival story from the popular boating waters between British Columbia's Lower Mainland and the Gulf Islands in the strait. In July of 1993, a man fell off a B.C. ferry, drifted overnight and was rescued in the morning after being in the water eight hours.
It's not about luck...People are more resistant than they can possibly imagine...
