Pot Saves Surfer

[ricki]

well, maybe it was the crab pot marker that did the saving. Next time!

http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/loc...home-headlines

Coast Guard finds missing windsurfer clinging to a crab pot off Keys

October 25, 2006, 12:20 PM EDT


BIG PINE KEY – A 55-year-old windsurfer was rescued after 18 hours in the Atlantic clinging to a crab pot about a mile off the Florida Keys, the Coast Guard said in a prepared statement on Wednesday.

Greg Lepock, 55, was reported overdue to the Coast Guard by his wife Cindy Gavin shortly after 7 p.m. on Tuesday, the Coast Guard said.

A helicopter and a rescue boat were launched to search for Lepock. The Monroe County Sheriff's Office marine unit also assisted in the search. Rescue crews searched until 4 this morning when the case was suspended until daylight.

At first light, the search continued. The helicopter located Lepock at approximately 8:24 a.m. and directed the rescue boat to Lepock's location, a tethered crab pot a mile off-shore.

According to Lepock, he had grabbed and held onto the crab pot throughout the night so he would stop drifting.

Within minutes the Coast Guard took the cold and tired Lepock to the Big Pine Fishing Lodge and transferred him to local EMS.
Copyright © 2006, South Florida Sun-Sentinel