DATE: Tuesday, April 1, 1997                TAG: 9704010236

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B1   EDITION: NORTH CAROLINA 

SOURCE: STAFF REPORT  

                                            LENGTH:   30 lines

COAST GUARD CREW RESCUES MEN FROM THEIR FAILING SAILBOAT

A Coast Guard helicopter crew rescued a father and son from their foundering sailboat Monday, after the 31-foot ketch rig was battered by 10-foot seas and 33-knot winds off the North Carolina coast.

David R. Lemmond, 67, of Georgetown, S.C., and his son, Joseph S. Lemmond, 38, of Raleigh, N.C., were hoisted aboard the Elizabeth City-based HH-60 chopper about 1:30 p.m. They were flown to a hospital in Wilmington, N.C., where they were reported in good condition later in the day.

The pair had been aboard the Lan Wap, registered in Norfolk, when they initially called for help about 9:30 a.m., said Petty Officer Stephen Baker, a spokesman for 5th Coast Guard District Headquartered in Portsmouth.

``At first they were asking for commercial assistance,'' said Baker. ``But by 11:50 a.m. they said they wanted to be taken off.''

The boat, low on fuel and taking on water, was 60 miles south of Wilmington, and could not reach shore thanks to strong winds, officials said. The sailors' dilemma was complicated by the loss of their life raft overboard.

A commercial fishing vessel, the Lady Ann, assisted in relaying their radio transmissions. The Coast Guard cutter Block Island, from Fort Macon, also responded, but did not reach the scene before the rescue took place.

The Lan Wap was abandoned and was last seen being driven by the wind southward. Neither the men's destination nor where they were coming from was known Monday, Baker said.

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