ANNAPOLIS, Md. - Nine days ago, experienced sailor Mark Olden, his wife Shannon Olden, their four-year-old daughter and three others set sail from Annapolis, but something went terribly wrong. The group ended up being rescued from the ocean near Bermuda.

By Sunday, their Bavaria 47 had its sails ripped, its rudder was broken, the computer was down and it was being battered by 30-foot waves and gale-force winds. The Oldens called friends Peter and Tracy Richmond using their satellite phone. "This was their adventure," said Tracy Richmond.

The Oldens, now 175 miles west of Bermuda, finally called the Coast Guard, which sent in a rescue helicopter.

A line dropped on the boat might snag in the mast so everyone had to jump into the ocean to be rescued. After the ordeal, Shannon Olden e-mailed friends, "I will tell you holding [my daughter] in my arms tight we breathed in so much water it felt like we were drowning -- quite an experience!" 

The Oldens and the three others who were on board are still in Bermuda while the U.S. consulate's helping them. The family hopes to find their boat which is still somewhere at sea, as they lost pretty much everything but the clothes on their backs.

Still, friends say they are happy the family is safe. "It was an adventure and Mother Nature got the best of 'em," Peter Richmond said. "And I'm just very thankful they're alive and OK."

Makenzie Olden, 4, was one of the people rescued from the sailboat near Bermuda.

 

 

 

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