The first rescue took place about 7:30 a.m., in the vicinity of Diamond Shoals, where a Jayhawk helicopter hoisted three people from a 37-foot sailboat named Seaker. U.S. COAST GUARD
By JACK DORSEY AND LAUREN KING
The Virginian-Pilot ©
May 8, 2007
Last updated 10:53 AM May. 8
http://www.hamptonroads.tv/index.cfm?locvid=124181&tid=r700&fv=1
PORTSMOUTH — The Coast Guard rescued nine people Monday from three sailboats that had to be abandoned in heavy seas off the North Carolina coast.
A search for a fourth boat believed to be in distress was suspended in the morning when its emergency position radio beacon stopped transmitting.
The powerful storm that produced near-hurricane-strength winds over the Gulf Stream during the weekend intensified on Monday, nearly exhausting Coast Guard rescue crews.
“I’m guessing those guys are getting pretty fatigued, and we are running out of air crews,” said Capt. Dean Lee, the North Carolina sector commander in Atlantic Beach.
“We have very few of these kinds of cases, but this storm, by virtue of the way it came about, formed up and gained strength quickly, caught a lot of people off guard,” he said. “We have been extraordinarily busy.”
Some of the rescues took place in seas as high as 34 feet and amid 50 mph winds, the Coast Guard said.
