After high school crew boats sink, 24 pulled from river

Twenty-four of the 57 high school students treated by emergency officials at the Marist Boathouse had been fully exposed to the chilly waters of the Hudson River Wednesday evening after crew boats filled and began to sink during a practice, according to the Fairview Fire District.

Of the 57 high school crew members that experienced various levels of exposure to the 43 degree water, five students were taken to the hospital, according to Fairview Chief Christopher Maeder.

The five students transported to the hospital for further assessment were from the Wappingers and Poughkeepsie districts — three students from John Jay High School, one from Roy C. Ketcham High School and one from Poughkeepsie High School.

All of them were taken to MidHudson Regional Hospital of Westchester Medical Center in Poughkeepsie for evaluations of hypothermia, according to the Dutchess County Sheriff’s Office.

"All of our students are doing well...they were treated and released" from the hospital last night, said Dwight Bonk, Wappingers assistant superintendent. "I commend everybody involved for the jobs they did."

Raymond Duncan, vice president of the Poughkeepsie City School District board, said Wednesday night that the student taken to the hospital did not have hypothermia and that all Poughkeepsie students were safe.

Fairview firefighters received a report of a boat in distress at 5:33 p.m. Wednesday, according to a press release. They found "multiple high school aged children in the water."

While firefighters initially stated that the boats capsized, the boats actually became "swamped" when water entered the boats over the sides, causing them to sink, according to Patrick Hancock, head coach and girls varsity coach of Wappingers Crew.

According to Maeder, "about 24 students" evaluated and treated had been fully submerged within the water following the boats sinking. The other 33 students were exposed, but to a lesser extent, to the chilly waters as they worked to safely return to shore, Maeder said.

The 57 students evaluated were given "dry clothes and some place warm to sit. Some kids were told to take warm showers to get their temperature up. We gave some Mylar blankets in attempt to get them warm," Maeder said. Five students that "weren't responding" to the efforts to increase their body temperatures were transported to the hospital, according to Maeder.

According to the sheriff's office, rough waters caused the boats to fill and sink. A calm river turned rough after winds picked up, said Sgt. Tyler Wyman of the sheriff's office.

The incident occurred at a practice involving multiple schools, including Rhinebeck High School, was taking place on the river in the vicinity of the Marist Boathouse, according to the sheriff's office. The crew members were pulled from the river by coaches into adjacent boats.

"There was nothing in the forecast about a violent front coming through," Hancock said. "All the coaches keep an eye on the weather pretty carefully. We went out at 4:30 p.m. along with several other schools, and the water was dead calm."

But around an hour and half later, Hancock looked north and saw the surface of the water "getting ruffled," he said.

One of the Wappingers Crew boats became fully submerged, Hancock said. But the safety video all student crew members must watch each season proved to provide valuable lessons. All his crew members remained calm and stayed inside the boat, he said.

"The most important message is stay with your boat. Don't leave your boat. It's not going to completely sink," Hancock said, adding that like every crew coach, he was prepared at practice with the necessary safety items: life preservers, emergency air horns, throw rope, tow rope, and rescue blankets.

Hancock said some of the Wappingers Crew boats were damaged by the rough winds pushing the boats into the shore line. Upon assessing those damages and getting them fixed, he said he expects for his varsity girls team to be back on the water starting Monday.

"I think the take away form all this is we’re all very passionate about what we do, and with an instance like this we all help out to make sure everybody gets back on shore," Hancock said. "There was a very high level of cooperation and everyone wound up OK."

John W. Barry: jobarry@poughkeepsiejournal.com, 845-437-4822, Twitter: @JohnBarryPoJo; Abbott Brant: abrant@poughkeepsiejournal.com;' 845-437-4809; Twitter: @AbbottBrantPoJo; Nina Schutzman: nschutzman@poughkeepsiejournal.com, 845-451-4518 Twitter: @pojonschutzman