THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, May 8, 1996 TAG: 9605080394
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY JACK DORSEY, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: NORFOLK LENGTH: Medium: 99 lines
Four shipwrecked divers were happy enough to save themselves when their yacht capsized off Virginia Beach.
Saving the boat - after the Coast Guard recommended sinking the foundering cabin cruiser - was what they least expected.
Today, they are praising the Navy and a civilian boat for saving their lives and their vessel.
The Navy crew aboard the Norfolk-based guided missile frigate Clark, they said, went above and beyond what it had to do.
``They worked like dogs for us,'' said the boat's owner, David Vandaalen of Hyattsville, Md., a 15-year diving veteran and automobile transmission mechanic who keeps the boat at his Sandbridge cottage.
``We weren't treated as rescue victims, we were treated like family,'' said Jim Asimenios, thanking the Clark and its crew, which raced to their rescue, then spent the entire day salvaging their boat and towing it to shore.
Asimenios, a volunteer fire department rescue diver from Indian Head, Md., Vandaalen and two friends were aboard the 26-foot cabin cruiser Carpe Diem about 10:30 a.m. Saturday when it suddenly started taking on water over its stern.
Also aboard were Ray Baker of Winston-Salem, N.C., and Art Padella of Silver Springs, Md.
``We would have been all right if I could have gotten the engine started,'' said Vandaalen.
He couldn't.
He radioed a ``Mayday'' distress call, giving his position, just before the boat overturned.
Another civilian boat, the Dolphin I, operated by Dianne and Herman Maddox of Richmond, appeared within five minutes of the broadcast and began relaying radio messages to the Coast Guard.
Meanwhile, Cmdr. Scott Jones and his 160-member crew aboard the Clark had just left Thimble Shoals Channel at the mouth of the Chesapeake Bay, outbound for a weekend of training with two dozen reservists aboard when they heard the distress call.
They steamed at top speed (about 35 mph).
The troubled boat was in an area near a sunken World War II liberty ship named the ``Morgan'' that is a favorite dive site for recreation divers.
``We got there 20 minutes after the vessel capsized,'' said Jones. ``Our primary concern was to render any medical assistance and see if there was anything we could do to help salvage the boat and prevent any pollution.
``In the worst case, if the boat remained floating, it was a hazard to navigation and the Coast Guard wanted us to sink it.''
The Clark took all four men aboard, gave them a medical check up, dry clothes and some coffee and then tried to recover some of the debris.
``My original intention was to try to salvage as much of their equipment as possible,'' said Jones. ``I thought the boat was a goner at that point. They were concerned about their wallets, credit cards and expensive diving gear.''
Asimenios had used his diving equipment just a few days before in a search for William Colby, the former Central Intelligence Agency director who drowned in a tributary of the Potomac River. He had more than $5,000 worth of equipment with him, Asimenios said.
It was just before noon when the Clark's three rescue swimmers - Jeffrey Ridgely and Joe Haunes, both second class petty officers, and Seaman David Chevalier - went into the water to begin salvage efforts.
Directed by Lt. Philip Roos, the Clark's operations officer, they managed to right the boat, using the ship's mooring lines and anchor capstan to flip the boat.
The boat had built-in flotation which would have prevented it from sinking even it it had been destroyed by the Clark's guns.
Jones decided to use the Clark's small rigid-hull inflatable boat to tow the Carpe Diem (which means Seize the Day) into Owls Creek Marina inside Rudee Inlet.
It was 7:30 p.m. Saturday by the time the 30-mile tow was completed and 11 p.m. before the Clark's boat and crew was back aboard their boat.
``It was real nice to be able to see them get that boat up on their trailer and wave as they drove away,'' said Roos. ``It made us feel really good that we were able to help.''
Baker, reached at his Winston-Salem home Tuesday, said he was drafting a letter of thanks to the Clark's crew at the time.
``They did an excellent job. They are the finest I have ever met. They didn't have to do everything they did.
``They could have just picked us up and dropped us off.''
For the Clark and its crew, which spent Sunday at sea undergoing still more training, it was a change to help.
``It was not exactly what we had on our schedule that day,'' said Jones, ``but turned out to be good training in search and rescue at sea and salvage at sea.'' ILLUSTRATION: Color photo
U.S. NAVY
On Saturday, the crewmen aboard the Norfolk-based guided missile
frigate Clark were able to save the foundering cabin cruiser Carpe
Diem, the boat's owner and his three passengers.
KEYWORDS: U.S. NAVY RESCUE U.S. COAST GUARD ACCIDENTS
BOAT by CNB