After his boat capsized off the coast of New Hampshire, Gloucester sailor Tom Cox remembers how he was rescued.
After sailing his 42-foot trimaran for 29 years, Cox was overconfident on Friday, he told NBC10 Boston on Wednesday, believing his boat, the Triad, was fast enough to outrun an impending storm.
âOn the horizon we saw cumulus clouds and rain tilted downward,â Cox said.
He was wrong, his boat was unable to outrun the storm.
âThe other crew members were thrown from the boat, but I was stuck below in the cockpit, so I had to swim down and out of the boat and jump on the wing,â Cox said.
Video from the United States Coast Guard’s First District shows Cox and his two crew members atop the Triad, after his beloved boat capsized around 4:20 p.m. Friday.
âThere is no time for fear because it accomplishes nothing,â Cox said, when asked if he was afraid.
The Coast Guard rescued three people from an overturned sailboat.
A salt water activated alarm on board sent a distress signal. Within an hour, a team from the Cape Cod Coast Guard Air Force Base spotted the sailors about 20 miles southeast of Portsmouth.
“It was kind of like, okay, let’s do that, and it all started to move. It was very cool to see,” Lt. Robert Turley said.
Turley is a junior pilot who said it was his first time saving lives while flying a helicopter.
âDefinitely not a normal day at the air station,â he said with a smile. “The next day I had a party drink and took my dog ââfor a long walk, I’ll say that.”
Several boaters were rescued Thursday after their boat began to take on water.
Cox, who has lived a lot in his six decades of sailing, said his latest adventure was proof, once again, that no one should play with Mother Nature.
âPlan for the worst and hope for the best and you’ll probably come out somewhere in between,â Cox said.
He told NBC10 Boston that he got his boat back and is working on its restoration.
Cox put the Triad on sale a few weeks ago and is still looking for a new owner who will love it as much as he has for almost 30 years.
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