Flotilla 96 Patrol Performs Rescue

Coxwain Al Lazzaro

On a calm and sunny Saturday, November 3, the CG Auxiliary vessel, Angie-O, with Coxswain Al Lazzaro and crewman Greg Guederian aboard, passed the Alpha marker at Wiggins Pass on a routine safety patrol.  A moment later, looking ahead, Lazzaro witnessed a man being ejected from a small skiff and struggling in the water. Suddenly, all his years of training were put to the test.

Lazzaro tells how the event happened and then escalated.  “I was at the helm of my facility slightly to the West of the Alpha marker at Wiggins Pass. A small skiff with a person standing, using a tiller to steer, was moving from the South, heading North at a moderate rate of speed. As he passed in front of my vessel, I noticed the skiff jerk sharply to one side and the driver eject out of the boat into the water. The person in the water waved his arm at me and I noticed the skiff was still moving in tight circles with the throttle on. I immediately told Greg that there was a PIW and prepare for a starboard pickup.”

Radio watchstander Emily Harris logged a call from Lazzaro at 1050 saying he was picking up a man overboard “not from my vessel” and they would have to stop the other boat from running in tight circles.  By 1055 Harris heard that our second patrol boat, Annabelle, with Coxswain John Gaston and crewmen Matt Chester and Richard Traverse, had reached the scene and assumed responsibility for communications with Wiggins Pass.  Gaston called Station Fort Myers Beach by landline to report the incident and started a timeline of events. By then Angie-O had already picked up the man in the water, who was not wearing a life jacket. Here’s how Lazzaro describes the actual rescue:

Happy ending:  The rescued boater returns ashore wearing
a life jacket as Angie-O and the Coast Guard talk it over.

With the most important job done, it was time to tame the runaway skiff.  Unmanned and with a full fuel tank, it was corkscrewing toward the beach where it could endanger others.  As Annabelle stood by, Lazzaro and Guederian decided to try fouling the propeller. They dropped a towline in the water and circled the boat, catching the prop on their second attempt.  With assistance from SeaTow, whose captain had declined to try it on his own, they brought the skiff alongside and killed the motor.

After clearing the prop and finding the boat undamaged, its recently rescued owner decided to return ashore on his own.  He was detained briefly by the arrival of a 33-foot Coast Guard rapid response boat.   The Coast Guard crew interviewed him and he was released. 

By 1130, the flotilla’s two safety patrols were practicing stern tow evolutions in the Gulf and reporting “ops normal” to their watchstander.  Only Angie-O’s shredded towline attests to what might have been a tragic ending had not the Coast Guard Auxiliary been on the job.

Editor’s Note:  The identity of the rescued party has been withheld pending his consent and approval from the Coast Guard.