Club Has Canoe Mishap Over Break

When some members of the Harvard Outing Club took a canoeing trip over spring break, they got their feet wet in more ways than they expected.

The six-person trip to Charleston, S.C. resulted in a canoe capsizing and two students requiring rescue by a Coast Guard helicopter and boat.

Giulio J. Pertile ’07 said he and John Matulif, a Harvard Extension School student, were paddling through the Charleston harbor last Thursday afternoon when they flipped over.

Pertile told The Crimson yesterday that the group had intended to reach “one of the islands off the coast of the harbor.”

But two miles off the shore, the waves got rough and probably became “too big for canoes,” according to Pertile.

He said that as a result, he and Matulif got split from the rest of the group, as turbulent conditions carried water into the boat.

“Eventually a wave just hit us on the side and the boat turned over,” he said, adding that they could not climb back into the canoe afterwards.

The condition of the canoe they were in “didn’t help” the situation either, he added.

Pertile said that the canoe had “one to two hairline cracks” causing there to “always be two inches of water in the bottom of the boat.”

To make matters worse, they were in a shipping lane and a freighter was coming at them that was “big, not Titanic-size, but big,” he said.

Pertile said that they had to abandon the canoe and swim out of the way.

Fortunately for Pertile, other club members witnessed the accident, though due to difficult conditions, “they couldn’t come back to rescue us,” he said.

Instead, these club members paddled back to shore to look for help, meeting Rand K. Pratt, the Dockmaster at the Charleston Harbor Marina.

He called the Coast Guard which dispatched a rescue team, Pratt said.

A Coast Guard spokesman, Donnie Brzuska, said that within about 15 minutes of the call, “helicopter got on the scene and was able to vector in the position for the rescue boat.”

The rescue workers were able to “pull the people pretty quickly from the water,” he said.

Pertile estimated that he and Matulif were rescued an hour after they had capsized.

Greeting the returned survivors, Pratt said he brought them some blankets and then they left in what he called good condition.

“In retrospect I wish I had given them hot chocolate,” he added.

Pratt agreed with Pertile that the rough conditions made the day less than ideal for canoeing.

Brzuska said though that he felt that the boaters were competent and well-prepared.

The boaters “were wearing the proper equipment, they were wearing a life vest, and were not boating alone,” he said.

“They did a lot of things right that day that probably helped save their lives,” Brzuska said.

The Outing Club said in a statement that “within the club, further investigation is under way” and it has contacted outdoor experts “to find ways to better screen trips in areas that are less well known and traveled by the Outing Club.”

According to Mark Lurie ’07, an Outing Club officer, the trip was organized by Matthew A. Busch ’07 and Olivia H. Gage ’07.

Busch declined to comment and Gage did not respond to requests for comment.

Both students were uninjured and the club promptly notified Assistant Dean of the College Paul J. McLoughlin II of the incident, the Outing Club said in the statement.

Prior paperwork, including medical forms, releases and trip information, had been reviewed and approved by the College Dean’s Office, according to the club.