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Coast Guard Team Wins Rescue Contest

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By Carl  Orth | The Suncoast News

Published: October 10, 2007

NEW PORT RICHEY, Fla. - NEW PORT RICHEY, Fla. - Four men from U.S. Coast Guard Auxiliary units covering North Pinellas and West Pasco are on their way home from Canada where they won first place in an International Search and Rescue competition.

An American team took top honors in the ISAR contest for the first time in the eight-year history of the event, Tom Loughlin, public affairs officer for Coast Guard Auxiliary Division 11, emphasized.

Team leader Kevin McConn from New Port Richey counted on teammates, Don Hoge from New Port Richey, Jim Ryder from Safety Harbor and Max Garrison from Palm Harbor.

McConn is a member of the Tarpon Springs Flotilla, whereas Hoge, Ryder and Garrison are from the Dunedin Flotilla.

Both units are part of Division 11, which covers a district from Clearwater to Hudson. Division 11 is commanded by Karen L. Miller of Palm Harbor.

Miller, the team's primary instructor and number-one fan, likes to say she uses the "carrot and prod" approach.

Coast Guard personnel from Station Sand Key in Clearwater Beach and their fellow auxiliary members cheered them on.

The six events test endurance and ingenuity.

Imagine rowing a 14-foot wooden boat across a pond to a "sinking ship" with a large hole in the side, use whatever materials that were on hand, make the repair, activate a water pump, pump it dry, put away the pump and hoses and then row back to the starting point – in just a few minutes.

The local winners had practiced their night navigation skills here late at night, rose early in the mornings to study communication procedures and devoted afternoons doing team drill exercises.

They wore work uniforms under the intense, brutal Florida sun.

The winners advanced to international competition after claiming the title for District 7, which covers the area from South Carolina to the Virgin Island and Puerto Rico.

Then they became the Atlantic seaboard champs.

At Toronto, the competition became fierce among champions from the other three Coast Guard Regions and the best four Canadian teams.

In another contest, the local team was given a scenario in which the local Coast Guard station had lost all power and they had to take over communications.

Just to make things interesting, a simulated Mayday signal from a ship sinking fast came in at the same time.

During that exercise a person on the boat began having heart attack symptoms and they had to coordinate both the vessel recovery but also the medical assistance.

Next, they had two men rowing a rubber dingy while a third man threw a long heaving line to a floating object. The fourth team member was onshore tying the various knots that a judge called out.

Another event blindfolded a team member who navigated a watery obstacle course by following the directions shouted out by another team member.

The winners also had to pass a 60-question exam about navigation rules, navigation aids, hull designs, plotting, communications, flags, signals, meteorology, first aid, and other maritime requirements.

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