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Räddad efter 20 timmar till havs
Gissa om det jublades på den lokala ”konfen”, när Jeff hittades dagen efter att mastfoten gått av !!
VIRGINIA BEACH (Virginia Pilot, Nov 19) – After spending about 20 hours clutching a windsurfing board in 60-degree ocean waters, a 39-year-old Virginia Beach resident was rescued just after noon Friday by a Coast Guard helicopter crew.Jeff Ball was plucked from the Atlantic after a search by Coast Guard and regional law enforcement officials, a dozen boats and three aircraft.
He was found floating off Virginia’s Eastern Shore on his eight-foot fiberglass board – tired, cold and hungry but relatively unharmed.
Ball, a windsurfer, told reporters Friday that he decided to take advantage of high surf after a powerful storm left the area about 3 p.m. Thursday. He began his windsurfing trip at 48th Street on Virginia Beach’s Oceanfront.
He was found 14 1/2 miles southeast of Fisherman Island – or about 20 miles from where he began.
”It was pretty rough,” Ball, a native of England, said after arriving at the Little Creek Coast Guard Station.
”I usually know what I am doing,” added Ball, who said he has been windsurfing for 10 years. ”I guess I messed up last night. ”
The sail broke away from his board and sank about 4:30 p.m., he said.
For the first three hours, Ball told his rescuers, he tried paddling toward shore with his hands but made no headway. He concentrated on staying atop his board and not falling asleep. Throughout the night, he could see boats passing nearby.
The Coast Guard launched its 87-foot cutter Cochito out of Little Creek about 11:30 p.m. A C-130 Hercules fixed-wing aircraft from Elizabeth City also joined the search at that time after friends called police to say Ball was missing.
At 3:30 a.m. Friday, Lt. Cmdr. Rich Condit, a Coast Guard official, asked for more help.
”I told them, ’We need all the boats you can bring,'” Condit said. ”I was impressed with what showed up at first light.”
Police boats from Hampton, Portsmouth, Norfolk, Virginia Beach and the Virginia Marine Resources Commission joined as well.
Ball was somewhat protected in the chilly ocean water by a wet suit. But he was barefoot. ”It was pretty cold,” he said.
He saw more rescue boats when dawn broke Friday, but those aboard didn’t see him.
As he was being pushed farther out to sea, Ball said, he tried holding on to a crab pot off Fisherman Island early Friday, ”hoping one of the fishermen would pick me up.”
On the cutter Cochito, Senior Chief Petty Officer John Buchanan and his nine crew members had been awake all night after getting the call about 10:30 p.m.
”Most of the bad weather was over, but it was still rough. About 4 a.m. the winds died down,” Buchanan said. His crew used night vision goggles and searchlights off shore, south of where Ball was eventually found.
Thursday night the Coast Guard deployed a data marker buoy to measure the currents and drift. Coordinators ashore recalculated and decided Ball might be farther north, Buchanan said.
”We had not searched that area yet and were getting ready to do so when we got the call the helo had found him.”
A rescue swimmer from the helicopter had joined Ball in the water. They were picked up by a small boat from the Cochito.
”We gave him something to eat and drink. He said, ’Thanks.’ For someone in the water that long, he was in great shape,” Buchanan said.
Asked whether there were any lessons learned, Ball said: ”Check your gear before you go into the water, I guess.”
Ball declined to say where he worked and only talked briefly with reporters before leaving with friends.
Condit, who had been in touch all night with Ball’s mother in England, handed Ball a cell phone when he reached shore.
”As a parent myself, you want to hear your child’s voice, whether you’re 10 or 40,” Condit said.
”It was not lost on him how his friends and family worried. He seemed moved he had his friends and family out there walking up and down the beach, riding bikes, in trucks, looking for him.”
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4 Svar
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har som av en händelse bytt joint idag för att vara på säkra sidan…. 🙂
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fuck this
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Jag gissar på Neil Pryde.
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en av de allvarligare incidenterna jag har hört inom sporten… lite hajtuggor och sån´t brukar väl vara standar tillexempel. Det vore myyycket intressant att höra exakt vad som gick fel. Mastbrott, joint, bom, etc… Ytterliggare ett exempelt på att ”go for the board” i alla lägen…
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