ISLEBORO, Maine — A kayaker is safe and at home after capsizing without a life jacket in Penobscot Bay. Her safety is thanks to a rescue by the crew of the Margaret Chase Smith, a ferry with service between Lincolnville and Islesboro.
A woman from New York launched her kayak off Islesboro Friday afternoon, when a storm brought 5-foot waves crashing down on her boat, tipping it over, and leaving her stranded.
“The waves [were] getting bigger, and I’m just screaming ‘help!’ And no one can hear me. There was nobody really out,” she said Monday.
For about 30 minutes, there was no sign of help, leading her to fear the worst.
“I was thinking about my mom,” she said. “I wouldn’t want her to not know what happened.”
But just a few miles away, Alan Flewelling, noticed a strange call on dispatch, alerting of a rescue effort in the area.
“Through broken radio chatter we could just hear parts of it. They were going into the water for something,” Flewelling said.
Crew on board the Margaret Chase Smith had noticed an empty kayak in the water during a trip from Islesboro to Lincolnville. On the orders of Captain Rod Johnston, the boat sent its rescue craft into the water.
Crew members say it took them a while to actually see the stranded kayaker.
“I could hear him yell to me. He said, 'We’re going to come and get you.' That’s when I started to get emotional," she recounted.
The woman was brought to Islesboro for medical evaluation and was later released.
As for the crew of the Margaret Chase Smith who saved her life, they say practice enabled them to do so. As Kristian Rudman, who was part of the rescue puts it, “It's why on all of these ships we run so many casualty control drills.”
