It was a very sad weekend on the Bay with the news of the boat that sank on the lower Potomac River after fishing the 2016 MSSA Chesapeake Bay Fall Classic. But there was also some good news. In a separate incident at the mouth of the South River, the crew of Chumbucket Sportfishing picked up a man who had been in the water for an hour after his 14-foot sailboat capsized.
In their Facebook post they say, "Fishing was slow but the man up stairs put me, my crew, and the Chumbucket in the right place to save a man's life." One of the videos post to Facebook has garnered almost 100,000 views.
Andrew Clothier was out on his 29-foot Well Craft Coastal fishing boat with friends on Saturday afternoon when the unexpected 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 life ring easily available," he says. "I sit on one 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 Lochhaven 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.