Another USCG Rescue

[Bobcat]

Sounds a little fishy

Man rescued from Cay Sal Bank
BY ADAM LINHARDT Citizen Staff
alinhardt@keysnews.com
A 39-year-old American stranded on Cay Sal Bank for six days after his dinghy went adrift was rescued after he was spotted by passing Coast Guard aircraft on routine patrol, officials said Tuesday.

Larry Sutterfield -- Coast Guard officials didn't have his address -- did not make a distress call, and was only rescued after a Coast Guard Air Station Clearwater HC-130 Hercules aircraft happened to see him while making a routine pass over the island earlier Monday, said Sector Key West spokesman Lt. Peter Bermont.

Crews spotted Sutterfield as well as his fire and makeshift tent during their aerial pass over the Bahamian island, Bermont said.

The Coast Guard quickly dropped a VHF radio, food and water to the man, and the Key West-based Fast Response Cutter Kathleen Moore was diverted to the scene, Bermont said.

The Moore crew took Sutterfield to Key West, where paramedics were waiting. He was not seriously injured by the ordeal, according to reports.

How Sutterfield last power to his dinghy and whether he had a larger boat, such as a sailboat, in the Florida Straits was being investigated Tuesday, Bermont said.

"We make inquiries into anyone rescued or seen in that area regarding the possibility they were fishing illegally or involved in any other illegal activity," Bermont said. "But to be clear, this was a search and rescue mission from the start to help a person in distress."

The Coast Guard has an agreement with the Bahamas that allows them to regularly fly over Cay Sal Bank to look for migrants and those stranded like Sutterfield, Bermont said.

Cay Sal Bank is a Bahamian island about 50 to 60 miles from the Florida Keys. It is closer to Cuba than to much of the other Bahamian islands. It is about 30 miles from Cuba.

alinhardt@keysnews.com

[Ratickle]

So it was a secret spy operation set up by Obama before the announced relationship change with Cuba?

[Bobcat]

Turns out He was fishing near the 7 Mile bridge, lost power , and drifted all the way to the Bahamas..He spent 6 days out there !

[Serious News]

MIAMI (AP) — A man who was adrift on an inflatable dinghy for five days and then stranded on a small, uninhabited island in The Bahamas has been rescued, the U.S. Coast Guard said Monday.

A Coast Guard patrol spotted Larry Sutterfield on Cay Sal Bank, in the Western Bahamas between Cuba and Florida. Video shot by the rescue crew showed the 39-year-old emerging from a small tent on the island and waving frantically to attract their attention.

Petty Officer John-Paul Rios, a Coast Guard spokesman, said Sutterfield had set out from Marathon in the Florida Keys on a camping trip when he was pulled out to sea. The man, who is originally from Illinois but whose hometown was not available, had not been reported missing.

Sutterfield had been on Cay Sal Bank for about a day when he was found by chance.

The Coast Guard took him to back to the Florida Keys for medical treatment but "no major medical concerns were reported," according to a press release.

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/w...hama/20536039/

[Ratickle]

I'm still waiting for the rest of the story.