By Delayna Earley
The Island News
A Spartanburg man and his father-in-law spent their spent much of their Father’s Day in an unexpected predicament.
Fripp Island Sea Rescue (FISR) was displaced just after 3:30 a.m. to respond to a Scout Center Console boat that was in distress in the marsh off Fripp Island according to Clay Emminger, chief of the Beaufort Water Search and Rescue (BWSAR).
The boaters had launched their boat from the Marina at around 8 p.m. on Saturday night, but they lost their way and got stuck when the tide went out.
Emminger said that they did everything right, they had a plan and put it into action before calling for help.
“Anyone who is from here and knows anything about pluff mud would know why they couldn’t simply just walk away from their boat,” Emminger said.
BWSAR partnered with FISR and the two organizations – along with the U.S. Coast Guard out of Savannah, Ga. – collaborated on this rescue.
Due to the location of the boat, none of the initial rescue attempts were successful because they could not get close enough for a safe rescue, according to a post on Facebook by Fripp Island Sea Rescue.
Rescuers made the decision to launch the BWSAR Airboat to try and get close enough to safely rescue the boaters.
At around 6:45 a.m. the Airboat was launched, but unfortunately due to mechanical difficulties, the boat was able to reach the boaters but was not able to remain operational to make the return trip with the boaters safely.
It was decided at this time to reach out to the U.S. Coast Guard (USCG) for helicopter support, as it was the only way to safely rescue the boaters and now stranded rescuers.
A helicopter was deployed with a crew out of Air Station Charleston to carry the boaters and BWSAR crew to safety at the Ocean Creek golf course.
According to the release, despite being stranded for many hours, only one of the boaters was injured. He sustained a cut on his foot and was dehydrated. He was assessed and released by EMS on the scene.
Emminger said that they usually participate in roughly a hundred rescues per year, but it is rare that one is as drawn out as this one.
“Typically, we would have deployed a rescue crew and would have had the stranded boaters and crew back to the dock in an hour or so,” Emminger said. “This delayed rescue was not typical, but it was necessary to get them back safely.”
Emminger said that the younger man who was stranded was celebrating his first Father’s Day and has a young daughter at home.
Delayna Earley, joined The Island News in 2022, formerly worked as a photojournalist for The Island Packet/The Beaufort Gazette, as well as newspapers in Indiana and Virginia. She can be reached at delayna.theislandnews@gmail.com.
