Labeled lifejacket saves Coast Guard hours of searching

Personnel at Coast Guard Station Point Judith, R.I., were able to avoid needlessly searching for a person in the water Wednesday morning because a kayak owner had labeled his lifejacket with contact information.

The Station Point Judith crew received a report about 8:30 Wednesday morning of an overturned 15-foot boat surrounded by a debris field near Point Judith. Fearing someone was in distress, the station launched a boat crew to begin searching the area.

Among the debris, they found a life jacket labeled with its owner’s contact information. They were able to quickly get a hold of the owner, who verified that the boat was his kayak and had drifted away, along with his entire private pier, due to high winds and heavy rain over the weekend.

“We’re really glad the owner thought to label his lifejacket with his contact information,” said Petty Officer 3^rd Class Justin Berman, the officer of the day at Station Point Judith. “Without it, we wouldn’t have known there wasn’t a person in distress and we may have searched the area for hours.”

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