Rowing Coach Is Pulled to Safety After Wind and Waves Capsize Boats

Two D.C. firefighters plunged into the chilly Potomac River yesterday to save a college rowing coach, as winds and waves swamped two racing shells and as many as three motorized skiffs, authorities said.

After one shell, from Georgetown University, was swamped about 11:15 a.m., eight rowers, aided by police and firefighters, climbed or were pulled up the sea wall in East Potomac Park, said Kevin Kirkpatrick, a firefighter and rescue swimmer. Two motorboats accompanying the shell also were swamped, he said.

A third skiff capsized about 35 yards from shore, and a coach was thrown from it and "started to go under," Kirkpatrick said.

"His teeth were chattering, and then he started turning gray" and showing other signs of hypothermia, Kirkpatrick said.

Kirkpatrick said he and fellow fire department rescue swimmer Kevin Rogan, who were in a rescue boat, "jumped in and grabbed him." With the man between them, Kirkpatrick said, they swam to shore.

A few minutes later, he said, the rescue boat was called upstream to the Thompson Boat Center, where another shell had been swamped near the dock. Its nine occupants swam to safety, Kirkpatrick said.

Winds in the area at the time were gusting as high as 30 mph.