THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, October 1, 1994 TAG: 9410010291
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B2 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY STEVE STONE, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Short : 41 lines
A 42-year-old Virginia Beach man was rescued from a small dinghy 15 miles off the North Carolina coast Friday, more than 18 hours after his boat sank.
John Grady was found safe, if wet and tired, about 12:30 p.m. by the crew of the research vessel Cape Hatteras east of Corolla. He had spent the night and morning in a small dinghy after his boat sank.
Grady had set out from Lynnhaven Marina in his 28-foot pleasure boat Thursday afternoon. It was to have been a three-hour tour to Chesapeake Light and back.
When Grady had not returned by dusk, however, his wife called the Coast Guard, which sent aircraft and ships scouring waters from Cape Charles to Oregon Inlet. The Virginia Marine Resources Commission also put a helicopter in the air to join the search.
After being spotted, Grady was taken aboard the Cape Hatteras and then transferred to the Coast Guard cutter Red Cedar and taken to the Coast Guard's Little Creek station.
Grady said his boat sank quickly about 1 p.m. Thursday when he hit an unknown object about a mile south of the Chesapeake Light.
``He was a very lucky man,'' said Lt. j.g. Laura Dickey of the Coast Guard's 5th District Operations Center in Portsmouth. ``The dinghy overturned twice on him, and it was kind of cold last night.''
She said he had stocked his boat well with safety gear, including the dingy and a survival kit. ``He had a lot of good equipment with him,'' Dickey said.
Even with that, Grady told the Coast Guard he was not sure if he could have survived another night.
Grady returned home Friday night with no immediate plans other than sleep.
KEYWORDS: U.S. COAST GUARD ACCIDENT BOAT
by CNB