Andrew Clothier was out on his 29-foot Wellcraft Coastal fishing boat with friends on Saturday afternoon when an unexpected adventure occurred.
Clothier and buddies Billy Hall, Billy Bance, Tim Flaherty, BJ Lake, and Steve Goris waited for a break in the weather to head out for a quick fishing trip. They are all experienced boaters and had all been in worse weather.
"The forecast showed the wind building but not until after dark," Clothier says. "It was blowing out of the south at about 20, but then 20 minutes later and out of nowhere, it was 40-50 mph straight out of the north."
A crew member was shooting footage of the conditions when they spotted a person in the water.
"We saw a guy in the water, drove right past him and heard him yelling for help."
Tad McGowan had been sailing in the river earlier in the day, but a big gust turtled the boat and he was unable to right it in the conditions. He stayed with the boat for a while, but the wind was pushing him out of the river and into the Bay.
"He was moving really, really fast," says Clothier, "so he thought he'd be better off swimming for shore. When we got to him, he was close to a mile from shore in either direction, and was being pushed out into the Bay. The boat was nowhere to be seen." At the time, the water temperature was 54 degrees. McGowan had been in the water for an hour.
Clothier was operating the boat while his crew did a very quick job of man overboard recovery, throwing a cushion with a rope attached to it to the sailor and bringing him onboard. The operation took less than a minute from the time they saw him, partially because the boaters knew what to do, and also partially because they had the throw cushion easily available.
"I'd definitely recommend having a throwable lifering easily available," he says. "I sit on the throw cushion on my boat. If we didn't have that, with the way the wind was blowing, it would have been much harder. It just made all the difference."
Clothier said that the crew had been listening to the VHF radio and had heard calls being made for Coast Guard assistance for an hour before finding the sailor. "We were one of the last boats coming in," he says. "He didn't have many chances after us."
McGowan came in to shore and took a warm shower and drank a cold beer at Clothier's house in the Loch Haven neighborhood of Edgewater. By the time the boat was cleaned up from the afternoon, the fire department had visited him and decided he was no worse for wear. Clothier arrived back on shore to find McGowan's wife at his home, picking up her husband.
Thanks to Clothier, Hall, Bance, Flaherty, Lake, and Goris for knowing what to do and acting so quickly. Definitely need more guys like you on the water.
To see more, please visit Clothier's Facebook page at Chumbucket Sportfishing.
