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US Coast Guard rescues distressed boater near Orient

The US Coast Guard rescued a Brooklyn man Friday when his sailboat lost its mast and began taking on water in the Long Island Sound north of Orient, according to a US Coast Guard press release.

The 50-foot sailboat had only one man aboard when its mast broke and it began taking on water in extreme weather conditions Friday night, officials said.

The man used his cell phone at around 8 p.m. and reached the Southold Town Police Department, which relayed the message to the the Coast Guard Sector Long Island Sound command center to report he was in distress, officials said.

The boater told the Coast Guard he could not use his radio because his vessel’s antenna was in the water, officials said.

The Coast Guard was able to determine the boat’s “approximate position” in the Sound about three miles north of Orient, the release states. Officers dispatched a rescue boat and put out an urgent broadcast asking boaters in the area to keep a “sharp lookout” for the sailboat, officials said.

JJ Callis, a Plum Island vessel, reached the sailboat first and helped the Coast Guard coordinate its recuse, officials said. The distressed sailor was safely transferred to a Coast Guard vessel around 11 p.m. He was not injured.

In the meantime, his sailboat was left drifting in the Sound with its navigation lights on.

No other details about the incident was immediately available.

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