Man Survives Sailboat Accident That Takes Life of Friend

News Former resident survives sailing accident that takes life of friend May 13, 2005 By Brian Saxton STAFF WRITER Lochlin Reidy, 58, a former resident of New Milford now living in Woodbridge, was picked up alive at 4 a.m. on Monday following a sailing accident in a fierce Atlantic Ocean storm that took the life of a friend and shipmate. Through a sea and air search operation mounted by the U.S. Coast Guard 400 miles off Virginia, Mr. Reidy was found after a C-130 Coast Guard plane saw a strobe light in the ocean. Thomas Tighe, 65, died in the arms of Mr. Reidy, his friend and shipmate , after huge waves swept them into the churning ocean while they were trying to prepare an inflatable life raft for the three remaining crew members. Coast Guard spokeswoman Kelly Newlin said Mr. Reidy held on to Mr. Tighe until they were found by a rescue ship, but by that time Mr. Tighe was dead. New Milford residents Jan and Mark Olander, longtime friends of the Reidy family, said Mr. Reidy has long shared Mr. Tighe’s enthusiasm for sailing. “He grew up with boats. He’s a very active guy who loves boats and loves sailing,” said Mark Olander. Jan Olander said Mr. Reidy’s wife, Sandra, was besieged by reporters and declined to make any statements. Efforts to reach Mr. Tighe’s family at their home in Patterson, N.Y., were also unsuccessful. Bethel yachtsman Douglas Griffin remembers Mr. Tighe as “a perfectionist... an experienced seaman.” In a lifetime of sailing, Mr. Tighe, a former member of the Candlewood Lake Power Squadron, made three round-trip voyages to the British Virgin Islands and 45 trips to Bermuda. He routinely delivered boats up and down the East Coast and chartered others in the Caribbean. “He was very dedicated and very sharp,” said Mr. Griffin. On Monday, Mr. Griffin, 55, who often sailed with Mr. Tighe, mourned the death of his longtime friend after hearing the Patterson, N.Y., man died in a fierce storm off the Virgina coast on his annual voyage to Bermuda over the weekend. “Tom was a special friend of mine,” said Mr. Griffin, who went on similar trips with Mr. Tighe. “He was a very dedicated seaman.” So dedicated that when Mr. Tighe sailed his 45-foot ketch Almeisan to Bermuda every year, he would give each crew member a thick, three-ring binder explaining weather conditions, safety procedures and vessel regulations for the six-day voyage. His crews varied between friends and other sailing enthusiasts. “His whole year revolved around preparing for the trip,” Mr. Griffin said. This year, though, the rough winds and stormy waters of the Atlantic Ocean defied Mr. Tighe’s expedition as it headed for Bermuda over the weekend. Both men were taken aboard the Panamanian-flagged tanker Sakura Express, which took part in the search and arrived in Boston Tuesday. Coast Guard officials said the three remaining crew members were lifted off Mr. Tighe’s boat Sunday night by a Coast Guard helicopter and taken to a hospital on Nantucket Island, Mass. They were identified as Ronald Burd of Dover, N.H; Christopher Ferrer of Sterling, Mass., and Kathleen Gilchrist of Bloomfield, N.J. They were said to be “in good condition.” All were expected to be released Monday night. According to the Coast Guard and other reports, Mr. Tighe and the four other crew members left Bridgeport for Bermuda last Tuesday. “They were expected to arrive in Bermuda but there were very heavy seas and they had the wind and the waves against them,” Mr. Griffin said. At one point, Mr. Griffin said, it seemed a large window in the boat broke and water poured into the vessel. Mr. Tighe reportedly activated an Emergency Position Indicating Radio Beacon after his boat became caught up in 28-33 knot winds and 16-20 foot seas. Coast Guard officials said it was then that Mr. Tighe began preparing the raft to evacuate his crew. “While he and crewmate Lochlin Reidy were deploying the raft, both were washed overboard by a large wave,” said a Coast Guard spokesman. On Monday, Mr. Griffin theorized that the line connecting the life raft to the vessel may have severed, allowing the raft to drift away and leaving both men in the water. “This was a very dangerous situation for them,” Mr. Griffin said. The search for Mr. Tighe and his crew began at 6 a.m. on Sunday after the unit’s rescue co-ordination center in Norfolk, Va., heard the radio beacon. Coast Guard airplanes and helicopters from North Carolina, four merchant ships and another airplane from Halifax, Nova Scotia, took part in the search. Mr. Tighe, married with three grown children, was a graduate of the University of Connecticut, where he studied physics. He was a member of the International Maritime Technical Institute and the Institute of Navigation. Among other works, he once produced a video called “Bermuda Bound” that focuses on a voyage he once made to Bermuda aboard his ketch. Harvey Druker, 73, of Bethel, a past commander of the Candlewood Lake Power Squadron, who also sailed with Mr. Tighe on the annual Bermuda run, described Mr. Tighe as “a top-notch captain.” The squadron, which teaches safe boating, is part of a national network of similar squadrons and has 180 members. Mr. Druker, who said he had “the greatest respect” for Mr. Tighe, recalled one trip when they encountered similar bad weather for several days but arrived home safely. “I can only surmize that something went wrong on this trip and the boat started taking in water,” Mr. Druker said. “Tom was just about prepared for any eventuality. He was a marvelous captain. There was nothing he couldn’t handle.” Staff Writer John Pirro contributed to this story.Related Stories