Last Thursday at 9:07 am, the Coast Guard Sector Virginia’s Command Center received a distress call from the 57-foot sportfishing boat Turn Me Loose that was sinking 34 miles southeast of Virginia Beach.
The two men onboard, 30-year-old Jeffrey Hudson and his 60-year-old father Robert Hudson, said the boat was sinking quickly and they had to deploy their life raft and abandon ship. They said they would switch on their EPIRB.
The CG watch standers issued an immediate all-ships distress alert and launched a 45-foot Response boat from Little Creek and a jay Hawk chopper from Air Station Elizabeth City. The CG cutter Pompano altered coarse for the victims’ position and the cutter Calhoun and a Virginia Beach Fire Rescue craft also joined the response.
At 10:03, the Jay Hawk and the Calhoun were on scene and the crew of the cutter were able to get the Hudsons onboard without incident. The crew performed a routine medical exam and then transferred the men to the 45-foot response boat. No injuries were sustained, the Hudsons were soon reunited with their families and the Turn Me Loose was left at sea semi-submerged.
It is remarkable that the Hudsons were rescued in less than an hour from the time they issued the distress call. The Coast Guard coordinated the various assets and the Hudson’s EPIRB signal gave them a specific point to home in on.
As CG public affairs officers always say after successful rescues like this, the Hudsons were well prepared to save themselves and knew the steps to take to make their rescue as swift and effortless as possible.
