Striper Talk Striped Bass Fishing, Surfcasting, Boating

The man was pinned in the rocks at the Point Judith Harbor of Refuge, and was
flown to a nearby hospital.

Monday, October 24, 2005

BY CHELSEA PHUA
Journal Staff Writer

The Coast Guard flew a 55-year-old injured fisherman to the hospital over the
weekend after he slipped off a breakwater alongside the Point Judith Harbor of
Refuge in Narragansett, authorities said.

The man, whose name has not been released, was pinned between rocks of the
harbor's west wall on Saturday morning, Petty Officer 1st Class Lucas Marland
said. The rock wall extends about a half-mile into the ocean from the breachway
east of East Matunuck State Beach.

The man probably broke some ribs, Marland said. The man was out fishing with a
friend and had walked more than half the length of the breakwater when he
slipped and fell. The Coast Guard received a 911 call at 8:38 a.m.

South Kingstown rescue workers were on scene in about 20 minutes and freed the
injured man from the rocks. However, they could not place the man on a stretcher
and bring him to shore on foot without endangering themselves and the man
further. They contacted the Coast Guard for boats, but the bad weather and
choppy water prevented the Coast Guard from dispatching its boats.

"There was no way the rescue [workers] could get him in, walking on the rocks,"
said South Kingstown Police Sgt. David Kenneally. "And the boats couldn't get
close to the rocks."

A HH-60 Jayhawk helicopter dispatched from the Coast Guard air station in Cape
Cod arrived around 9:50 a.m., Marland said. A rescue swimmer was lowered from
the helicopter to assess the situation before the man was hoisted up in a basket
and taken to South County Hospital.

A hospital official said yesterday morning that the man had been discharged.