
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: THURSDAY, April 19, 1990                   TAG: 9004190805
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: B4   EDITION: EVENING 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: PORTSMOUTH                                LENGTH: Short

2 RESCUED AFTER BOAT IS DISABLED

Two battered and dazed sailors were rescued from their stranded sailboat about 120 miles off Virginia Beach, according to Coast Guard officials.

The Coast Guard said Donald and Cecelia Smullin of Oregon were rescued Wednesday when a Coast Guard rescue swimmer dove from a hovering helicopter into 20-foot seas. Petty Officer 3rd Class Duane Jones brought the couple survival suits to protect them from the chilly water.

Jones got the couple into their boat's life raft and moved them away from the crippled boat. Once clear of the boat, they were hoisted aboard the helicopter and flown to Elizabeth City, N.C., where they were treated for hypothermia and exhaustion.

The Coast Guard said the couple was en route from Beaufort, S.C., to Connecticut when their 46-foot boat, the Sasha, was hit by a storm Tuesday and blown off course. The couple reported the boat had lost all power and was rudderless.

"The boat was pitching 10 to 15 degrees, and rolling 30 to 40 degrees. . . . The mast was going all over the place. It was just too dangerous to get close enough to try and pick them up directly from the deck," said Lt. j.g. Daniel Burbank, the helicopter pilot.

Burbank said the boat was left drifting in the Atlantic.

by CNB