Pilots’ Association members honored for wintery rescue

Six members of The Pilots’ Association for the Bay and River Delaware were honored April 16 by the U.S. Coast Guard for their rescue of a stranded boater during the early January blizzard that brought 60 mph wind gusts and freezing spray with it.

Addressing a small but proud crowd in the conference room of the association’s pilot house in Lewes, Capt. Scott Anderson, Coast Guard Sector Delaware Bay sector commander and Port of Philadelphia captain, said the heroic acts of the association’s men that day continued a long line of mariner tradition – helping a distressed mariner.

There were five men on two vessels that went out that day – Kane Bounds and Jay Lewis on Pilot Launch Lewes, and Jody Brittingham, Donnie Holladay and Connor Orton on Pilot Launch J.P. Virden. A sixth association member, Fred Tinney, was on duty as tower watch stander in the watch tower near The Point in Cape Henlopen State Park.

John Kemmerley, The Pilots’ Association for the Bay and River Delaware president, said sending his men out in the waters that day was not an easy decision. He said he asked for 10 minutes to gather his thoughts after being brought up to speed on the situation by Anderson.

“It was not a decision I made lightly,” he said.

In a follow-up email April 18, Anderson described the scenario that led to the rescue. He said a 47-foot lifeboat from the Indian River station launched shortly after the initial distress call. Due to the weather conditions, he said, four hours into the transit, the crew was projecting an additional four to five hours to reach the distressed mariner.

“On a calm day, he said, “The transit would have taken them a little over an hour to reach the mariner.”

Anderson said by the time the decision was made to send the lifeboat back to Indian River, an 87-foot patrol boat out of Cape May was in the water and expected to be on scene within an hour. He said the patrol boat handled the reported 13-foot seas, reaching the sailboat and beginning to tow it to safe harbor.

Anderson explained an 87-foot patrol boat handles the seas differently than a 26-foot sailboat, and over the course of the tow, the line became disengaged from the sailboat. He said while the patrol boat maneuvered to recover and re-establish the tow, the tow line became tangled in the vessel’s propeller, which meant it was now without propulsion and had to deploy an anchor to control drift.

While this was happening and the Coast Guard was preparing to launch a third boat, Anderson said the pilot boats had answered an Urgent Marine Information Broadcast and rescued the mariner.

Rep. Steve Smyk, R-Milton/Lewes, was also on hand to present the association members with a certificate of recognition from the House of Representatives. He said the recognition serves as a reminder for association members past, present and future.

They aren’t asked to board a boat in distress very often, Smyk said, but they know how to respond when needed.