Preserving the memories and moments

The Scuttlebutt website hosts newsletters back to 1998, preserving the memories and moments in the sport. But not all the news has been good, and we share this 2002 report to remember the fallen:

Jamie Boeckel, 31, of Newport, RI, boat captain of the 66-foot ocean racing sloop Blue Yankee, is missing in Long Island Sound and presumed dead after he was swept overboard last night during the Storm Trysail Club’s Block Island Race. Boeckel was thrown from the bow when the spinnaker pole broke off Fairfield, CT, while the 16-man crew was making a routine sail change to a smaller running spinnaker. It was 8:37 PM and just after dark. At the time, northwesterly winds were gusting over 25 knots following the passage of a cold front.

Brock Callen, another professional sailor on the boat, took off his shoes and jacket and jumped in after Boeckel, who was seen floating face down and was apparently unconscious. At the same time, a second crewmember released the boat’s man overboard apparatus, consisting of a flotation ring, dan buoy and strobe light. Callen swam the 20 yards to Boeckel and tried to support the unconscious man in the cold 50-degree waters of Long Island Sound. The man overboard gear was nearby, but out of reach and drifting away in the strong winds. The boat got back to Callen within eight minutes, but Boeckel had already slipped from his rescuer’s grasp. – Full report