4 Canadians rescued after vessel capsized on Atlantic Ocean credited with emergency preparedness

A commander with the United States Coast Guard (USCG) credits the professionalism and preparedness of four Canadians with their successful rescue after their catamaran capsized off the coast of North Carolina over the weekend.

"We found them so quickly due to the level of preparation and proper equipment usage," said Commander Jesse Hyles, engineering officer with USCG.

The four mariners' 60-foot catamaran, Moon Dragon, overturned on the Atlantic Ocean early Saturday afternoon, forcing the crew to abandon ship.

"It was very windy that day, the seas were pretty high, they looked angry, so that was going to make visually searching for anything out there difficult," Hyles said.

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The Moon Dragon was on its way to the British Virgin Islands when it ran into trouble.

"We had some catastrophic failure of the vessel, and when that happened, our training kicked in," said Moon Dragon Captain Jason Kindree.

The Tiny Township man said he and his crew knew something was wrong and spent two hours Saturday morning preparing and remaining calm.

"I've been doing this for many years, growing up in Georgian Bay, some of the roughest waters in the world I've ever seen, you know, our training kicked in," Kindree said. "You prepare for the worst and hope for the best."

"Jason definitely took the reins, and you know, as captain, that's his role," said Moon Dragon crew member Darin Speight.

Finally having to leave the vessel, Kindree said he got the three crew members to the life raft. "And as I was getting in, I looked back, and the vessel had already capsized and was quite a distance away from us," he recalled.

The eight-person life raft was rocked by 11 to 12-foot waves.

"[It was] a little like a rollercoaster," Speight said.

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Hyles and his team were dispatched in a C-130 aircraft to find the stranded crew.

The USCG commander said the Moon Dragon crew sent an Emergency Position Indicating Radio Beacon signal, and once on the scene, the rescue team quickly spotted the bright orange life raft.

"I would say about four, four-and-a-half hours we heard the first plane overtop," Kindree recalled, adding his first thoughts were, "Well, let's get the heck out of here, boys, it's cold."

The Moon Dragon crew used a radio to communicate with the C-130 team.

"The crew members were very calm, cool and collected. They did not seem distraught at all," Hyles said.

The C-130 crew remained in position until the rescue helicopter arrived to safely hoist the four men amid blowing winds and rough seas.

"It was very dangerous, but this is something they are trained to do," he said.

"It's nice to have some good leadership and the other side of it, to have the proper equipment on board," said Speight.

"The rescue diver jumped into the water and swam over to our boat and asked how we were," Kindree said.

"These mariners were prepared. They had functioning equipment, and that made absolutely the difference in our ability to find them and to bring them home safely," Hyles said.

The Coast Guard commander noted how not all his search and rescues go quite like this one.

"The ocean is very large, it's unforgiving, and it's unpredictable," he said. "Over the course of my career in the Coast Guard, I've flown on hundreds of search and rescue cases, and unfortunately, there's been some disappointing ones," he mentioned.

Kindree said that the experience will serve as a life lesson.

"It's one that sometimes might be a little bit of a pride-kick, but at the end of the day, we got home, everybody is safe. Boats are replaceable, humans are not."

"As much as we hope that these emergencies never happen, just make sure that you have a plan and that you have the proper equipment onboard. I know there’s a lot of boaters out there that enjoy their weekends, but don't forget the fact that it is something that can take a life," Speight added.

"We were all very impressed with the crew members on the Moon Dragon, the survivors. We just kept saying over and over, this is an ideal scenario," Hyles said. "We were really happy to find them."

"We were fortunate," Kindree finished.