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MILTON - Richard Ruel was looking forward to an exciting Wednesday sail on Milton Three Ponds.
Unfortunately it got a little too exciting.
The Rochester man had recently acquired a new Force 5 racing sailboat, and was seeing what the 14-footer could do with a sturdy breeze at her sheets when he capsized a couple of hundred yards off the shore of Town Beach after a strong gust of wind around 2 p.m.
Ruel’s wife was watching him from a bench near the boating ramp and began yelling for help when she saw her husband was in trouble. Christin Chesley of Lebanon, who works for Milton Rec, was painting a table nearby and the first to hear her screams.
A quick-thinking Chesley ran and got Bob Fallon who was manning the gate and had his own boat on hand. Fallon quickly put his boat in, motored out, got Ruel and brought him safely back to shore within minutes.
Ruel, who had a life jacket, was never in danger once he cleared the overturned craft.
The Force 5 is similar to a Laser, has a small cockpit, but a flat stern.
Ruel said the boat is equipped with hiking straps to keep the skipper in the boat in a stiff wind, but he didn’t have them attached, so when it listed hard, he slid right off and she “turtled,” meaning the boat went on its back.
When that happened he was glad he didn’t have the straps on as they might have trapped him under the boat.
“I made sure I got away from the boat when she went over,” he said as he sat beside his wife at a picnic table after talking to Milton Fire and Rescue EMTs and assuring them he was OK.
Ruel required no treatment, but did admit when the boat first went over, he was a bit concerned.
“If I’d been 18, I would’ve been fine, but I was a little scared,” he said smiling. “You don’t want to get caught in those ropes.”
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