A trio of rogue waves nearly swamped the boat of a Marine Patrol officer Monday as he attempted to pull a tiny sailboat off an island off Ocean Point in Boothbay.
“It could have been serious,” said Rev. Robert Houston, 72, a retired United Methodist minister who summers on Ocean Point.
Boord said he had visions of losing his boat as a beach full of people watched.
“I am glad it turned out well and no one was hurt,” he said.
Houston and his son, David, 42, were sailing in their 17-foot sail boat, when the center board broke and waves pushed their craft towards Green Island at the edge of Grimes Cove.
“I tried to back us off with the outboard, but it was only a four-horse engine and did not have enough power,” said the winter resident of Concord, Mass.
“It smashed us on the rocks and slapped us around,” said Houston.
As the craft floundered on the ledge, the two men, both wearing life vests, were afraid they would be rolled up under the floundering boat so they got off and jumped onto the island. They tried to pull the boat off the rocks.
About that time, Officer Donaldson Boord rounded Ocean Point en route to the Damariscotta River and noticed the two men and the unfortunate sailboat.
Boord said seas were calm when he first tried to help David Houston pull the boat from the ledge. The younger Houston jumped on Boord’s patrol craft and the two of them were able to pull the boat from the ledge.
Then the three large waves rolled towards the stern of the patrol boat.
“Suddenly, I turned around and saw a big wave, probably a six-footer, coming right at us. It broke over the stern of my boat and put us sidewise. A second one, bigger than the first, then smashed into us,” said Boord.
As the patrol officer tried to back into the swell, the third wave hit him and the younger Houston lost his grip on the rope. The sailboat broke loose as the patrol boat went airborne and grounded on the ledge,” he said.
As suddenly as the big waves appeared, they were gone.
“Then it was calm again and I took David to his dinghy while a good Samaritan, Dan O’Connor, rowed his punt to the island and rescued the older gentleman, Robert Houston,” he said.
The Houstons lost their boat, but were happy they were not injured.
“The patrol officer was extremely helpful. He had almost pulled her off the rocks when the wave hit and almost engulfed him. It could have been serious,” said Rev. Houston.
“I am extremely grateful to him and to Dan, the Good Samaritan. It could have been serious,” he said.
