By ANTHONY BOTTAN
The couple have navigated through Long Island's inlets and the Atlantic for nearly a decade, and this year's trip started out no differently.
But just after 11 a.m., when the Cassidys were a mile out of the Fire Island inlet, the weather took an unexpected turn for the worse, and 8- to 10-foot swells began pummeling "C's of the Sea." Without warning, Paula was thrown from her seat and fell head-first toward the cabin. She landed on her hip, she said, and her leg was badly gashed on the corner of the cabin door. "It all happened so quickly," Paula said. "I was not in a secure position and I got tossed into the air."
After sizing up her bloody wound - which she described as an L-shaped laceration, about five inches long and three inches wide - Paula knew she had to remain calm, at least for her husband's sake, because he was busy trying to keep the bow of the boat heading into the waves. If he didn't, she said, a wave could have broadsided and capsized them.
Realizing that his wife needed immediate medical attention, Robert radioed the Coast Guard for help, but the heavy surf forced the first rescue team to head back to shore. The Coast Guard radioed the Suffolk County Marine Bureau, and three officers - who were more than 10 miles away, in the Great South Bay - cut through the pounding waves at speeds approaching 50 mph in a rescue craft, reaching the Cassidys in just 23 minutes, Suffolk County Police said.
Officers Terence McGovern and Christopher Erickson tied the rescue boat to "C's of the Sea" and jumped aboard, along with Coast Guard Paramedic Tom Sidik, who bandaged Paula's wounds. The officers determined that it was too risky to transfer her to the rescue boat, so they stayed aboard the Cassidys' boat, and McGovern piloted it back to shore. According to police, the boat reached the Coast Guard Station at Fire Island at about 12:35 p.m., and Paula was taken to Good Samaritan Hospital in West Islip.
Harold Jantzen, the commanding officer of the Suffolk County Marine Bureau, said he was pleased with the work of his officers. "I think they skillfully navigated through the inlet to get there, and once on the scene, they were able to evaluate the patient and her need for care quickly," Jantzen said.
Paula Cassidy lauded the officers for their heroism. "They are selfless in what they do," she said. "They came out in a dangerous situation and risked their own safety for mine, and didn't hesitate to be there."
Cassidy was released from the hospital later that day, and, she said later, she lost count of how many stitches doctors used to close her wound. Her trip may have been cut short, but she acknowledged that it could have turned out much worse. "Without them," she said of her rescuers, "I don't know what we would have done."
Comments about this story? Abottan@liherald.com or (516) 569-4000 ext. 246.
