Video: Coast Guard Swimmer Battles Rough Seas to Rescue 4

Check out the video at the bottom of this post.

Rescuing boaters stranded in rough seas is just a typical day at the office for those who join the U.S. Coast Guard. Doing so by swimming 1,750 yards in 5-foot seas, with 30-mph winds beating down, however, isn’t so ordinary.

Petty Officer 2nd Class Darren Harrity, 27, pulled off that feat Tuesday morning in rough waters off Cape Blanco, Ore., according to a Coast Guard media release. The Florida native was assigned to the crew deployed to respond to a distress call that came in from the Jamie K at 1:40 a.m. The 52-foot commercial fishing vessel, the guard reported, had run aground, was taking on water and had lost power.

While the Jamie K’s crew donned survival suits and abandoned ship to head into a life raft, the Coast Guard deployed a MH-65 Dolphin helicopter and two motor life boat crews to assist in the save.

The aircrew made it to the scene at 2:49 a.m. and immediately lowered Harrity into the water next to the Jamie K’s life raft. Shortly after Harrity was lowered, the helicopter’s hoist suffered a mechanical breakdown, making a standard lift rescue impossible.

Undaunted, Harrity proceeded to individually swim each of the four fisherman more than 250 yards to shore, the media release said. He did so despite those 5-foot seas and 30 mph winds.

“This was a tremendous team effort that demonstrates the strength and importance of the Coast Guard’s rescue swimmer program,” Cmdr. Robert Workman, chief of response and aviation operations officer at Sector North Bend, said in the release. “Petty Officer Darren Harrity did a fantastic job pulling four fishermen, each in full survival suits, to shore through waves, surf and darkness.”

See Also:

• Firefighters Undaunted by Difficult Rescue
• Dramatic Rescue of Dog Caught on Video

Harrity has been an avid swimmer, surfer and spear fisher his entire life. He shares part of his story on the Shallow Water Blackout Prevention website. It seems he decided at the age of 19 to join the Coast Guard, but suffered an incident in Florida Atlantic University’s pool in 2007. That incident resulted in a lengthy hospital stay after he blacked out underwater, he explained.

While his dream of joining the Coast Guard was delayed, he didn’t let the obstacle stand in his way.

“I stayed positive and worked hard,” he wrote. “A year later I joined the Coast Guard. Four years after that, I accomplished my dream and graduated with honors as a helicopter rescue swimmer.”

That same determination seemed to drive him Tuesday.

“It was just me and my muscles and that’s it,” Harrity was quoted by KPTV as saying after the incident.

That was more than enough for the Jaime K’s crew.

“Thank you to everyone for your support and concern about the boat and the crew,” wrote fisherman Jake Leach on his Facebook page. “Glad everything went the way it should and that everyone made it out in one piece. Sure will miss the old girl.”

The Jamie K was carrying about 10,000 pounds of shrimp when it ran aground. The ship is a loss, but its crew is grateful for the rescue.

Photos courtesy of the U.S. Coast Guard