Captain Cole Sisler
Recognized by Broward County Sheriff’s Office
TowBoatU.S. Ft. Lauderdale Supervisor Cole Sisler recounted in his own words the events that led up to assisting Officer Jay Dunning in the rescue of a man that fell overboard a boat that was located offshore Pompano Beach, Florida. This rescue resulted in Cole and Jay receiving a life Saving Award at the 2016 Broward Sherriff’s Office Award Ceremony held on Tuesday, March 29th in Ft. Lauderdale.
Cole explained: “I was inside Hillsboro inlet on Friday, November 20th performing my regular duties. A woman’s voice came over radio on channel 16 screaming "Someone help me"! I could tell by her voice it was serious. Using my Automatic Direction Finding VHF radio, I quickly ran out of Hillsboro Inlet and headed south along the beach. As clear as the transmission was I knew the vessel had to be close. As the Coast Guard was talking to the woman it was clear that her husband fell overboard and couldn't swim back to the vessel and that the wife was inexperienced in boating and couldn‘t maneuver the vessel to her husband. By the time I got to the area where the man fell overboard, a coast guard helicopter was in the area searching for him. The man’s son was scuba diving nearby and had no idea of the situation going on at the surface. The Coast Guard helicopter guided me toward the man who was barely treading water. I tried to throw him a line but he was too tired to pull himself in. I pulled up alongside him and turned off my engines. He was exhausted! When I pulled up close to him he barely had his head above the water and was doing his best to hang on to my boat. I knew I wasn’t going to be able to pull him onboard, so I made preparations to jump in the water and grab him as he looked like he was drifting from consciousness. Just as I was about to jump in the water, Jay from BSO pulled up. I jumped in to help keep the man’s head above water and to help Jay pull the gentleman on board through the diver door located on the side of the police boat. At this point we were about 2 miles off the Commercial Boulevard Pier and we had multiple TowBoatU.S. assets coming to my location and knew they would be able to grab my boat which was now adrift. Jay and I headed to the inlet while I kept the man immobilized on the back deck of the police boat to prevent further injury in 5-7’ seas with winds from the Northeast at about 20 knots. While heading to Hillsboro Inlet Marina, the man was drifting in and out of consciousness and had a weak pulse, I was doing everything I could to keep him awake the whole way. When we arrived at the marina, I assisted in transferring the gentleman over to paramedics that were waiting for us. Another TowBoatU.S. Ft. Lauderdale captain picked up the man’s son after he surfaced and ran him back to the wife that was on board the vessel that made the original distress call.
The man was released from the hospital in stable condition after 2 days and has made a full recovery. Not a typical day on the job by any means, but it was a very rewarding one!”
Larry Acheson, President of TowBoatU.S. Ft. Lauderdale commented “We are very proud of Cole and the selfless efforts that he made that day in November to assist when this man’s life was at risk. Boating is almost always fun and stress free, but occasionally it can take an unexpected turn in seconds. It gives me great satisfaction to know that Cole and his fellow captains are always alert and ready to help. Saving boats and saving lives is all part of a day in the life of our captains and crew.... And they live for it!”
