Woman, 18, Rescued From LI Sound By Huntington Harbormaster

HALESITE, NY — An 18-year-old woman from Greenwich, Connecticut, was rescued by the Huntington Harbormaster when she suffered a seizure while on a sailboat in the Long Island Sound on Wednesday morning. The woman was sailing two miles north of buoy 15. She was rescued and brought to The Head of the Bay Club, where she was brought to Huntington Hospital by the Halesite Fire Department.

Senior Harbormaster Fred Uvena, Senior Bay Constable Jeff Kropp, and Bay Constable/EMT and Maritime Services Director Dom Spada were praised by Town of Huntington Supervisor Chad Lupinacci for their rescue. Using the Town's new response vessel largely secured with Federal Emergency Management Agency Port Security Grant funding, they made it to the woman 15 minutes before any other boats arrived in response to the emergency, officials said.

"It’s that fast and its arrival before this boating season proved essential," Lupinacci said. "We’ve seen more people out on the water than usual this year. This has resulted in more rescue calls, especially for kayakers and small boats, with our Harbormaster’s Office averaging one rescue a day early in the season. Boaters should call the Harbormaster’s Office on VHS Channel 16 for emergencies on the water."

This winter, the Department of Maritime Services took delivery of a new state-of-the-art 34-foot North River Liberty patrol boat, 75 percent of which was paid for by $330,000 in FEMA funding secured by Spada. The new response vessel, which has proved very useful on several occasions this season, adds new features to the Harbormaster’s fleet with thermal imaging to detect body heat, a side scanner to give rescue personnel a wider range of visibility for searching underwater lands for rescues, a radiation meter, a lift to recover injured boaters and passengers from the water and a generator for better lighting on rescue scenes, according to the Town.

In March 2020, Maritime Services also took delivery of a new 26-foot Sound Marine pump out boat, built on Long Island with over 60 percent of the cost covered by a New York state Clean Vessel Assistance Program (CVAP) grant, which includes a 325-gallon holding tank to pump boats out and keep water clean, the Town said.