Four were rescued from Gardiner’s Bay after their sailboat sank during Saturday’s Whitebread ‘Round the Whirl Regatta, according to the United States Coast Guard Station Montauk.
According to USCG Petty Officer Mike Hedl, a call came in at approximately 11:30 a.m. from Douglass Marine that a sailboat was sinking during the regatta, which includes over 120 sailboats that set off on a 32-mile course from the New Suffolk harbor, around Shelter Island, and back to New Suffolk.
The boat was sinking in Gardiner’s Bay, Hedl said, and the Coast Guard said out on their 47-foot cutter Ridley, running search patterns. “We didn’t get any information,” he said. “We just got a report that the boat was taking on water. We didn’t know how many people were in the water.”
Hedl said the USCG took about 45 minutes to get to the scene, due to Saturday’s stormy weather.
When they arrived in the area, the USCG learned that four onboard the vessel had been rescued by mariners on two other sailboats that had been participating in the race; the four were taken on back to New Suffolk, Hedl said. “The boat itself did sink,” he said.
A relative of one of those aboard the vessel that sank contacted SoutholdLOCAL. “All onboard were rescued and are okay,” she said.
