Rowers Rescued From Capsized Boat Wed Jan 18, 11:29 AM ET Two rowers competing in an international race were rescued after spending 16 hours clinging to the hull of their capsized boat in the Atlantic Ocean, the Coast Guard said. Sarah Kessans, 22, and Emily Kohl, 23, both former collegiate rowers at Purdue University, were competing in the Atlantic Rowing Race 2005 on Sunday when a wave flipped their 24-foot wooden rowboat in choppy seas, the Coast Guard said. They sent off an emergency beacon that alerted the Coast Guard via satellite. The women were located and a tall ship picked them up Monday morning, about 1,300 miles east of Puerto Rico. After their rescue, they were on a commercial ship Tuesday morning waiting until it pulls into its next port and were in good condition, said Coast Guard Lt. Buddy Dye. "They were very lucky to be able to stay with their vessel," said Petty Officer Kip Wadlow of the Coast Guard public affairs office in Portsmouth, Va. In their boat, called American Fire, Kohl and Kessans were attempting to row 2,913 nautical miles -- more than 3,300 land miles -- from the Canary Islands to Antigua in the Caribbean. They had left on Nov. 30. Bill Butler, a sailor who has advised Kohl and Kessans, wrote on the women's Web site that Kohl called her sister and told her they were in their cabin when the 10- to 12-foot wave washed over the boat and flipped it. They swam out of the cabin, found that their life raft had floated away, then crawled atop their overturned boat, "where they hung on for the next 16 hours," he wrote. Dye said it is the second group of rowers from the race the Coast Guard has rescued. One boat has finished out of 26 entries, with most still on the ocean. Boats in the race have a small cabin, and the decks are lined with watertight compartments for storing hundreds of pounds of gear and freeze-dried food. Kohl, a 2004 Purdue graduate, now coaches rowers at Michigan State University. Both women were former members of the Purdue Rowing Club, under coach David Kucik. He told the Journal and Courier newspaper that he was glad his former students were safe. "This shows how deep their passion is for something they believe in," Kucik said. "It is a growing experience."
