By Hector Flores
The sea rescue took place on Thursday, July 10, when post office supervisor Bill Blanchflower, 45, and letter carrier Fred Huebner, 46, headed out on Huebner's 23-foot boat for a day of fluke fishing. The trip began after work, at 3:15 p.m., and as the two workers idled out from an East Massapequa dock, they noticed a white object bobbing in the distance.
"While the boat was going through the canal and into the bay, we saw a white object in the distance," said Blanchflower. "Once we cleared the canal and started to speed, we noticed that it was a capsized sailboat with four kids in the water. As we reached them, we saw that there were two boys and two girls. They had lifejackets on, and were screaming and blowing their whistles at us. Apparently the kids had been in the water for 20 to 25 minutes."
Huebner counted all the children in the water near the 14-foot boat and threw them a flotation device. The first pulled out of the water was a 9-year-old boy, so visibly shaken that he was crying. They oldest was 14.
After Blanchflower and Huebner picked up all the kids, they headed toward the Unqua Corinthian Yacht Club in Amityville, where the youths had sailed from.
But on the way there, Blanchflower and Huebner noticed another distressed sailboat with two girls in it. The boat, another 14-footer, had apparently capsized but the girls, both 15, managed to turn it upright, according to the rescuers.
"The second boat's jib sail was covered in seagrass, and the main sail was missing," said Huebner. "The girls couldn't get back to the yacht club because they had no sails and wind was blowing against them. They were trying to go east, but that was where the wind was coming from. As we passed them, I told them that we would return for them after we had dropped off the first batch of kids."
When they returned, however, Blanchflower and Huebner noticed that the girls had been blown farther away from the dock. Once the postal workers reached them, they threw them a line and towed them back to the yacht club.
"Apparently there were other sailboats out there that day, in total five," said Huebner. "The instructor boat was tending to another capsized boat, and by the time we got there, we were able to rescue the other boats that had capsized."
Blanchflower added that if they had not decided to go fishing that day, the story might have had a different ending. "We just happened to be in the right spot at the right time," he said. "These kids needed help, and it wasn't a great weather day out there. The winds were just too much for the sailboats and the kids to take, and there were no other boats around. I was glad that we were there to help."
None of the rescued youths could be reached for comment as of press time.
The two rescues took about an hour, and by 4:15 Blanchflower and Huebner resumed their fishing trip. Although they weren't successful in catching any fluke, both said they were pleased with their main catch of the day.
