Other People's Business

St. Augustine
N 29 53.476 W 081 18.484

Listening to the marine VHF radio, one hears a lot of other people's business. We can hear other boats from up to 20 miles away and we hear Coast Guard transmissions 100 miles away.

Usually, the other people's business is mundane. Sometimes it is madening, or even humorous. Today it was tragic.

We heard the Coast Guard half of a conversation about an emergency in progress. A 23 foot motor boat, 25 miles NE of Ponce Inlet, had a man on board who suffered a heart attack. A woman, Kathy, was at the helm and she was making 25 knots, full speed, toward the inlet. She, or someone else on board, was also attempting CPR. Meanwhile, a rescue boat was racing out from Ponce Inlet to intercept them. We listened to this drama for 30 minutes. Then the radio traffic stopped. Of course, we never get to learn the ultimate outcome. Did the man live or die? That part is subject to privacy laws.

Our heart went out to this Kathy person. What a horrific experience. We can only hope for the best for her.

We made good progress today. Lovely weather. We sailed part of the time, and motored all the time. We plan to anchor in the Tolomato River, north of St. Augustine. That should put us in good position to ride the rising tide early tomorrow morning.