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The
Officers, Directors and Members of
US SAILING
are
pleased to present the
ARTHUR B. HANSON RESCUE MEDAL
to the
crew of
for the rescue as follows:
On September 9, 2001 during the second race of the Frank Heyes
Regatta, the Farr 40 Virago rounded the weather mark in second place,
with southwest winds 17-20 knots and seas at 1-1/2’ to 3’. With the
spinnaker set, the jibe angle approached quickly for the leeward mark
and they started to jibe. Being short one crew, there was no one
available to flip the boom over. So the skipper over-steered the jibe to
get the wind to do the job. This started the boat into a slow broach.
Michael Eggly, a newcomer to the Farr 40’s, was working the cabin roof
grinder on the new leeward side and was standing in water. As the boat
continued to rotate, Eggly lost his grip and fell backwards, clearing
the lifelines. He grabbed for a stanchion, then the pushpit each for a
few moments, appearing to take water. Virago threw multiple flotation
devices at Eggly.
With third and fourth place, Contentious and Inferno close behind,
Virago shouted to those boats to avoid hitting Eggly. They missed. All
three Farr 40’s went into rescue mode. Virago assigned a spotter,
dropped its spinnaker and sailed back under mainsail. Contentious, with
two spotters, dropped only its spinnaker and motored upwind only to have
their mainsail shred, while Inferno dropped both sails and motored back.
Contentious made it back first and threw Eggly a horseshoe and he
weakly reached for it. Paul Murphy jumped off Contentious into the water
seeing that Eggly was becoming unresponsive and going underwater. When
Murphy arrived at Eggly's position, he had to dive down three feet and
pull Eggly back to the surface. Eggly wore a manually operated
inflatable PFD, which was not inflated. Jeff Goff and Shane Vowels dove
off of Virago to assist holding Eggly up, while the remaining crew
deployed the Lifesling. Goff and Vowels swam the Lifesling over to
Murphy
and Eggly.
With Virago still under sail, and Inferno coming up, it appeared that
Inferno was going to go over the floating Lifesling line, Virago quickly
untied the line so the rescuers and victim would not be pulled under
Inferno. The crew of Inferno then grabbed the free-floating line. Murphy had the Lifesling in one arm and grabbed
Eggly in the other,
the tether became taught as the Inferno crew pulled, the rescue swimmer
was under great strain, yet held on to both. When they got along side,
hands grabbed Eggly and lifted him on board Inferno. Murphy was pulled
aboard too. Eggly had been in the water for three to five minutes.
Contentious picked up Goff and Vowels.
An emergency room doctor from Cook County Hospital, Dr. Stuart
Feldman on board Inferno, immediately started CPR with other crew
assisting. Eggly expended a small amount of fluid as Inferno rushed
for shore. Inferno radioed the Race Committee and the Coast Guard of
their status. Firemen and Paramedics were waiting at the end of Navy
Pier as Inferno pulled up. Eggly was transferred to the ambulance and
taken to Northwestern Hospital. Northwestern Hospital doctors were able
to get Eggly revived, only to have Eggly pass in the early evening.
The following day, the Cook County coroner declared that Eggly had
drowned.
To Dr. Stuart Feldman, Scott Payant, Kathryn Kessel, John McLellan,
Jeffrey Shuert, Christopher Williams, Aaron Housten, Marsha Dowd and
Phillip Dowd, for being prepared to effect a rescue; for recovering the victim and
one rescue swimmer; for providing Cardio Pulmonary Resuscitation to an
injured sailor, US SAILING is pleased to present the Arthur B. Hanson
Rescue Medal in recognition of this event.
Ralph Naranjo, Chair
Safety at Sea Committee
By Direction
Safety at Sea Note - When rescuing an unconscious victim, the
choices of recovery are limited. One option is to deploy a
rescue swimmer. The rescue swimmer should be tethered to
the boat, and wearing a PFD. The rescue swimmer should
carry the Lifesling and affix it to the victim independent of their own tether and
PFD. A second option is to use a gaff hook to pull the
victim closer to the boat so that the crew can get a hold of the
victim. It is best to gaff in the leg or arm, as any
resultant injury is less of a problem than an injury elsewhere
on the body.
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The
Arthur B. Hanson Rescue Medal was presented to
Paul Murphy, Jeff Goff and
Shane Vowels
on January 31, 2002 at Sail America's Strictly
Chicago Boat Show,
by US SAILING
Secretary Sarah Alger on behalf of US SAILING. |
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L to R: US SAILING
Safety at Sea Committee Member Glenn McCarthy, Aaron Housten,
Kathryn L. Kessel, Jeffrey Shuert, US
SAILING Secretary Sarah Alger, John McLellan, Dr. Stuart
Feldman, Christopher Williams, Scott Payant, Shane Vowels, Jeff
Goff |
US SAILING Secretary
Sarah Alger |
Front Row: L to R, Jeffrey Shuert, John McLellan,
US SAILING Secretary Sarah Alger, Dr.
Stuart Feldman, Christopher Williams, Shane Vowels, Jeff Goff.
Back Row: Kathryn L. Kessel,
Paul Murphy, US
SAILING Safety
at Sea Committee Member
Glenn McCarthy,
Scott Payant, Aaron Housten. |
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DETAILS:
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Nominator: Glenn McCarthy
On September 9, 2001, the Farr 40’s were sailing as a section. In the
second race of the day, Virago did a bear-away starboard chute set at
the weather mark in 2nd place. After sailing some distance,
they needed to jibe to make course for the leeward mark. They performed
their jibe, being one crew short, did not have someone to throw the boom
over to the starboard side. The helmsman steered more to port to get the
boom to jibe itself. When the boom came over, the forces started the
boat into a broach. With the wind somewhere between 17-20 true out of
the Southwest, and waves 1-1/2’ to 3’.
Michael Eggly, 31,had purchased into a partnership in a J/29
recently. He had sailed on J/105’s and Tartan-10s. He was a quick
learner and more than eager to learn more about sailing. In 1998, he
succeeded in the US SAILING Basic Keelboat program. On this day, Michael
was a first timer on Virago. He took the grinder position on the cabin
trunk being a fit 5’ 8", 150-pound sailor. Grinding on a Farr 40
on a day with conditions like this is grueling, surfing the waves
requires constant easing and grinding of the powerful chute off-wind. He
was working hard building his sailing resume, so he could hit the
Florida Circuit and sail Key West Race Week in January 2002.
As the boat broached, Michael found himself on the low side and to
gain balance stepped backward and found his feet in water. The rest of
the crew climbed to the weather rail. During this rather slow wind-up,
Michael lost his grip on the winch handle, falling backwards into the
water. He hit nothing on the way in. He grabbed at one stanchion and it
looked like water was being forced into his mouth and nose and possibly
let go to get a breath, then as the pushpit neared, he grabbed and held
it for a few seconds, then lost his grip again. Virago threw flotation
devices toward Michael, including Paul Murphy who threw his PFD.
The immediate danger was that Virago was passing across 3rd
and 4th place starboard tack Farr 40’s right on their
heels. The Virago skipper hailed to Inferno and Contentious to miss
Michael. Virago assigned a spotter, and started to recover their chute.
In the mean time, Inferno and Contentious dropped their spinnakers, one
dropped their main, and both started motoring upwind, back to Michael.
The Farr 40 with the main still up shredded their mainsail performing
this maneuver.
Contentious made it back first to find Michael unresponsive and going
underwater. One rescue swimmer, Paul Murphy, jumped in the lake off of
Contentious, when Virago pulled up under mainsail only (no motor).
Virago deployed their LifeSling. Two people, Jeff Goff & Shane
Vowels, off Virago, jumped in the Lake to help support the unconscious
victim. None of the rescue swimmers wore a PFD. The swimmers were
supporting the unconscious victim with Virago and Contentious were 30
feet apart with Michael in the middle. Virago could not hold the head to
wind position, when Inferno pulled up. There was concern that Inferno’s
bow had gone over the floating LifeSling line, and could pull the victim
and swimmers under Inferno, so Virago untied their end of the LifeSling.
At which point, Inferno picked up the free line. Paul Murphy grabbed the
Lifesling with one hand, and grabbed Michael with the other, when the
tether became taught as the crew pulled them over to Inferno, the rescue
swimmer was under great strain, yet held on to both. When they got along
side, hands grabbed Michael and lifted him on board Inferno. Michael had
been in the water for three to five minutes.
An emergency room doctor, Dr. Stuart
Feldman, on board Inferno from Cook County Hospital immediately started
CPR with other crew assisting. Michael expended a small amount of fluid.
Firemen and Paramedics were waiting at the end of Navy Pier as Inferno
pulled up. Only Inferno ran aground, parallel to the pier 6’ away.
Paramedics tossed the medical supplies across the chasm and the ER
doctor continued the administration of the medical devices. A police
boat pulled alongside Inferno and pushed the boat against the pier where
Michael was transferred to the ambulance and taken to Northwestern
Hospital. Northwestern Hospital were able to get Michael revived, only
to have Michael pass in the early evening. The following day, the Cook
County coroner declared that Michael had drowned.
On Friday, September 14, 2001 a memorial was held at Chicago Yacht
Club honoring Michael’s life. Fellow crew, competitors and sailors
turned out. With airflights grounded nationwide with our second tragedy
of the week, Michael’s family drove from the East Coast to Chicago for
this service.
Remarks were made that Michael was more intense about achieving in
sailing than the most intense sailors in the room. Sailing lost someone
who would be one of our highest achievers and a huge contributor to his
sport.
The Cook County Coroner reports that there were a few scratches on
the head, and an abrasion on the chin, not possible to determine cause
of unconsciousness, not able to determine if it happened going into
water, coming out of water or when transferred to land.
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