KALA POINT — A Kala Point man remained in stable condition at Harborview Medical Center in Seattle after spending 30 minutes clinging to his overturned dinghy in the cold water on Wednesday.
Emergency workers with East Jefferson Fire Rescue pulled James Caetta from the water near the Kala Point dock after commandeering an 8-foot skiff to travel about 50 yards from the dock to where he was.
The firefighters “rowed to him and lifted him out of the water,” after receiving an emergency 9-1-1 phone call at about 11:19 a.m., said Ted Krysinski, East Jefferson Fire-Rescue assistant chief.
Once ashore, Caetta was placed in an ambulance. But after a paramedic’s examination, he was airlifted to Harborview.
Caetta had suffered hypothermia, and also had a history of heart disease, Krysinski said, so it was determined he should be treated at Harborview.
A Coast Guard Group/Air Station Port Angeles HH-65C Dolphin rescue helicopter, which had been called to help in the rescue, airlifted Caetta to Harborview.
Caetta was conscious, soaked and talking when the helicopter landed at the playground near the dock to pick him up.
He had lost his balance and fallen into the water when he tried to step onto his sailboat from his dinghy about 50 yards from the Kala Point dock, Krysinski said.
Krysinski said his rescue team chose to commandeer the dinghy after attempts to throw a line to Caetta from the dock fell short.
As part of their routine rescue program, Krysinski said Fire-Rescue also called its marine unit, along with Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office’s marine unit and Naval Magazine Indian Island’s security service.
Caetta’s wife, who watched the rescue from the shore, and who was not with him at the time of the incident, said he was attempting to test out his new sailboat, which was anchored off the dock.
“This was a practice run,” she said, declining to give her name.
