thelog.com
Family with sick baby rescued from disabled sailboat off Mexico
Joint rescue effort involved Coast Guard, U.S. Navy and Air National Guard.
SAN DIEGO (AP) — Six days after call- ing for help a family of four — adrift aboard their disabled sailboat far into the Pacific with a vomiting, feverish 1- year old — returned aboard a Navy ship to San Diego where they had begun their attempted around-the- world voyage in 2012. A call to the Coast Guard from a satellite phone aboard the 36-foot Rebel Heart April 3 set off an intera- gency rescue effort that involved National Guard para-jumpers and the crew of a U.S. Navy warship. Because of Rebel Heart’s remote location about 900 nautical miles southwest of Cabo San Lucas, Mexico and the infant’s urgent need for med- ical care — a Coast Guard flight sur- geon had recommended that the child be seen by medical personnel within two days — the Coast Guard requested assistance from the National Guard’s 129th Rescue Wing stationed at Moffett Field, Calif. With its long range MC-130P
Combat Shadow aircraft, HH 60G Pave
Hawk rescue helicopters (capable of being refueled while in flight by a MC- 130) and the highly skilled Guardian Angel pararescuemen the 129th Rescue Wing is capable of conducting its mis- sion of military and civilian personnel recovery day or night anywhere in the world. At approximately 7 p.m. April 3,
more than five hours after leaving Moffett Field aboard a MC 130P, a team of four pararescuemen from the 129th parachuted into the open ocean and boarded Rebel Heart. The rescuers pro- vided immediate medical attention and were able to stabilize the sick child. They also provided assistance to the other family members while on board.
The pararescuemen remained with the family aboard Rebel Heart until the Navy frigate USS Vandegrift, which had been diverted by the U.S. 3rd Fleet from a training mission off Southern California, arrived on scene April 6. Using one of the ship’s small boats the family and rescuemen were taken aboard. Vandegrift docked at Naval Air
Station North Island April 9 where the family — Eric Kaufman, his wife Charlotte, their 3-year-old daughter
Cora and Lyra, who was recov- ering from her illness — dis- embarked, Navy spokeswoman Lt. Lenaya Rotklein said. Sariah
English, Charlotte’s sis- ter, said that Lyra had salmonella in Mexico, where the Kaufman’s had been living briefly before heading out in March across the Pacific. Her pediatrician had assured her parents that she was recovered and safe to travel, English said. Rebel Heart, a Hans Christian 36, which had been the Kaufman’s home for seven years, is at the bottom of the ocean, sunk by the rescuers so that it would not become a hazard to naviga- tion.
The Kaufman’s decision to sail
around the world with their two small children drew accusations of reckless foolishness from some observes and praise from others for their courageous spirit. Some critics have demanded that the Kaufman’s be billed for the cost of the rescue effort.
The Kaufman family disembarks the Oliver Hazard Perry-class guided-missile frigate USS Vandegrift(FFG 48) following their rescue at sea April 6. The rescue was a joint effort involving Navy, Coast Guard and California Air National Guard personnel.
The Coast Guard said that it does
not charge for search and rescue oper- ations. “We don’t want people in trou- ble at sea to hesitate to call for help for fear they’ll be charged for assistance. Mariners assisting one another at sea is both a time honored tradition and a requirement of the Safety of Life at Sea Convention of the International Maritime Organization,” Lt. Anna Dixon of the 11th Coast Guard District said. Eric Kaufmann, a Coast Guard- licensed captain, and his wife issued a statement defending their actions, say- ing “when we departed on this journey more than a year ago, we were then and remain today confident that we prepared as well as any sailing crew could.”
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