Coast Guard Prefers Not To Come To Your Rescue

SARASOTA, FL -- It's their job and they do it well, as demonstrated in a recent series of life-saving rescues off Florida's Gulf Coast.

But, frankly, members of the U.S. Coast Guard would prefer it if they didn't have to rescue boaters from vessels that aren't equipped with proper safety gear or don't meet the standards to operate.

In the past week, Coast Guard personnel have been called out four times to rescue boaters.

On Thursday, June 21, Coast Guard Station Cortez received a call that a vessel containing two boaters was taking on water and needed emergency assistance six miles west of Longboat Key. A 45-foot Response Boat-Medium was dispatched. Crew members found the two boaters, Donald Swanson, 60, and Tonda Reeck, 62, clinging to the hull of the 31-foot fishing boat. They'd been holding onto the capsized boat for more than two hours.

Then, on Saturday, June 23, Coast Guard Sector St. Petersburg was called out when a 20-foot tug boat capsized 12 miles west of Tampa. Three crew members -- Raul Gutierrez, 40, Jorge Gutierrez, 51, and Jose Gari, 38 -- were plucked from the water by the 45-foot Response Boat-Medium boat crew.

The Coast Guard was back on the job Sunday when two Ohio residents failed to return to the East Shore Resort in North Clearwater Beach after heading out on personal watercraft.

A Station Sand Key 29-foot Response Boat Small-II boat crew was launched and Anthony Grine, 27, and his girlfriend, Chyanne Hatcher, 20, were found stranded in shallow water after failing to see hazard signs.

By the time the Coast Guard safely delivered the couple to dry land, Hatcher's mother, Toni, had signed them up for a boating safety course the following day.

"You've got to keep your eyes open even when having fun," Tonia Hatcher said. "Respect the ocean."

"In this area, you can quickly go from being in 6-foot water to being in shallow water," said Petty Officer 3rd Class Ashley Esteves, officer of the day at Station Sand Key. "We ask all boaters to research the area before getting underway."

Boaters can check tides, charts and weather through the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association, she noted.

On Thursday, June 28, it proved to be a close call for four men who embarked aboard the charter fishing boat Two Georges from Hudson with the boat's captain for a fishing trip in the Gulf of Mexico.

The engines of the 32-foot vessel suddenly quit and the boat began taking on water. By the time, the Coast Guard Air Station Clearwater HC-130 Hercules air crew spotted them 22 miles west of Anclote Island, the five men were in the water clinging to life preservers and coolers.

A Station Sand Key 45-foot Response Boat-Medium boat crew safely transported the boaters to shore.

To help keep boaters safe, the Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office and Sarasota Police marine units will be out in force throughout this weekend for Operation Dry Water, an annual campaign focused on the detection and enforcement of boating under the influence.

Launched in partnership with the U.S. Coast Guard, the operation puts thousands of local, state and federal marine law enforcement officers on the water the weekend before the Fourth of July to prevent drinking and boating accidents.

"Our goal is to educate boaters about the balance between having a good time and being safe on the water," said Hillsborough Sheriff Chad Chronister. "Boating and drinking just do not mix. People's lives depend on it."

"As a part of the community ourselves, we want to ensure that recreational boaters, paddlers, and anyone enjoying our waters have a safe place to spend their time on the water," said Sarasota Police Marine Patrol Officer Ron Dixon. "Alcohol impairs judgment and reaction time on the water just as it does when driving a car, even more so because of the added stressors of sun, heat, wind and noise on a boat. Choosing to consume alcohol while boating puts everyone at risk, including passengers and people in the water. Our goal is to remove anyone choosing to operate a vessel impaired and to keep everyone else safe."

Alcohol is the leading contributing factor in fatal boating accidents. The federal BAC legal limit for operating a vessel under the influence is .08.

Here are some boating tips from the Coast Guard:

* Boat sober. Alcohol use is the leading known contributing factor in fatal boating accidents; where the primary cause was known. It was listed as the leading factor in 15 percent of deaths, according to U.S. Coast Guard Recreational Boating Statistics 2016.

* Wear your life jacket. Eighty-three percent of people who drowned in a recreational boating accident were not wearing a life jacket.

* Take a boating safety education course. Seventy-seven percent of deaths occurred on boats where the operator did not receive boating safety instruction.

Images via USCG