It’s no secret that the Atlantic ocean can be a dangerous place. This weekend that became abundantly clear to the folks on the Rainmaker, who were lucky to be airlifted off their $2.5 million dollar catamaran that was suffering from a broken mast. This article in The Island Free Press shares the dramatic details of the rescue.
“The U.S. Coast Guard made international news this weekend with the Friday rescue of five people from a disabled sailboat about 220 miles off Hatteras.
One of those rescued has been reported by national and international media as prominent millionaire Brian Cohen, an original investor in Pinterest. Some of the other four rescued were said to be members of his family.
According to a Coast Guard news release, watchstanders at the Coast Guard 5th District Command Center in Portsmouth received notification at approximately 1:50 p.m. on Friday that the 55-foot catamaran Rain Maker, homeported in Manhattan, New York, suffered a broken mast in approximate 40-mph winds and 13-foot seas roughly 200 miles southeast of Cape Hatteras.”
An update from GUNBOAT’s Facebook page says conditions were far worse than originally thought, “Sustained winds were 30-35 knots. Squalls had been in the 40 knot range for most of the day. A full whiteout squall hit that initially looked no different than the other squalls. Sails were up as there was no indication of squalls with winds above 40 knots. A wall of wind hit at up to 70 knots. There was no opportunity to get the sails down. The mast came down with the wall of wind.”
[box type=”bio”] Read the rest of the story and check out the video on the Island Free Press![/box]