Monday, July 18, 2011

Genuine Milwaukee Heroes!

I've been on that lake in mild-to-medium storms on a ragtop. This took courage, and a LOT of smarts.

Crew members aboard a Milwaukee Yacht Club sailboat rescued six members of another boat that capsized early Monday during a severe thunderstorm on Lake Michigan, a U.S. Coast Guard officer said.

Two other sailors aboard WingNuts, a boat competing in the annual Chicago to Mackinac race, were killed when their boat capsized about 13 nautical miles northwest of Charlevoix, Mich., and 10 miles east of South Fox Island in Lake Michigan.

Enter the Milwaukee guys:

The U.S. Coast Guard was notified at 12:40 a.m. Monday via radio that crew members of Sociable, which sails out of Milwaukee and also was competing in the Chicago to Mackinac race, came to the rescue of WingNuts.

Ed Purcell, the commodore of the Milwaukee Yacht Club, said the owner-skipper of the Sociable is Robert Arzbaecher, the chairman, president and CEO of Actuant Corp. Purcell said Arzbaecher, of Brookfield, was listed as a crew member for the race.

There's a special place in sailor memories for guys like that.

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