Perhaps more excitement than we were looking for

Well the last 24 hours have certainly been exciting, beautiful, delicious, serene and beautiful all wrapped together.  We started out yesterday morning from Croton-on-the-Hudson for what we thought would be a lovely day cruise to Kingston.  It was a beautiful day -- and wonderful to see FDR's home, the Vanderbilt Estate and dozens of other "summer cottages" dotted along the waterway.  What we didn't expect was that almost immediately after passing Hyde Park we notice what looked like debris in the water on the far side of the river.  When we went over to investigate we discovered not just debris, but a capsized and sunk 24 foot sail boat with its owner desperately trying to stay afloat while clutching a few things from his boat that floated.  We were able to swing around his sunk vessel and deploy the LifeSling -- a life vest that is tied to a line that can be thrown from the boat and pulled back in with via the line.  It took two circles to get our range as we needed to steer clear of the sunk boat but we managed to get close enough on to the floundering gentlemen and Ellen made a perfect toss right next to him allowing him to grab on and we could then pull him in.  Needless to say -- after having tread water for about 30 mins he was exhausted, suffering a bit of hypothermia in the cold water and verging on shock.  Ellen wrapped a blanket over him and and we were able to successfully get him back to his home port a few miles up river.  When we finally got him to the dock in good order he turned to both of us and said quite simply "I'm alive!"  Wow.  Never had that experience before.

Needless to say -- the rest of the trip to Kingston was a bit of a blur.  We called in the wreckage to the Coast Guard, put out a mariners warning, and chatted about how lucky we felt to have left late from the dock that morning to be in the right place at the right time.  Life is strange.  We both decided that June 10th will be CM's (his name) I'm alive day!

A couple of thoughts post this event -- first, we now have our life jackets ready at a moments notice (CM was not wearing one); when in an open cockpit boat one should always wear a life jacket; the LifeSling works -- but one should practice to see how best to deploy.  We were lucky (and Ellen smart to tie it off early once he grabbed the line so he wouldn't drift further out).  Not sure one should count on good luck in these situations.

We ended the night meeting new found Looper friends for a marvelous dinner in Kingston.  Good food, conversation, laughter and stories always makes for a terrific evening.  And we discovered the Looper's midnight -- 9pm.  You can turn in then!