Keys man was gone with the wind for 18 hours

BY ERIKA BERAS

Miami, FL - October 26, 2006
When the Coast Guard rescued him early Wednesday, Greg Lepock was about a mile off Big Pine Key -- shivering in his wet suit, with his hands wrapped around a crab pot. But after spending 18 hours in the Atlantic, the 55-year-old man's biggest complaint: a scratchy throat brought on by yelling all night at passing boats.

Lepock's story of survival began at about 2 p.m. Tuesday when the West Summerland Key man set off from his home for an afternoon of windsurfing. What he didn't realize was that a cold front combined with a strong tide would push him south.

''I tried to come upwind but I kept slipping further and further,'' he said. As he slipped downward, he de-rigged the sail. Hanging onto his short board, he tried to stay afloat.

When he wasn't home by 5 p.m., Cindy Gavin, his wife, started to worry. ''I started calling friends. I called 9-1-1 and they put me through to the Coast Guard,'' she said. They started searching for him immediately. So did friends and neighbors with boats. ''I tried to stay positive,'' said Gavin, ``I was just hoping he had washed up on an island.''

Meanwhile, Lepock could only watch and wait. "I could see the [Coast Guard] rescue helicopter perfectly the whole time. I could see it moving up and I kept thinking, 'No down here! I'm down here!' '' he said.

Equally frustrated: The Coast Guard. ''It was like searching for a needle in a haystack,'' said U.S. Coast Guard Petty Officer James Judge.

Temperatures overnight dropped to about 60 degrees. ''I was pretty sure I'd get hypothermia and die,'' Lepock said.

At some point, he lost the board and clung to a crab pot. ''I watched the stars come up and go down,'' Lepock said. When paramedics brought Lepock to shore, he declined to be taken to the emergency room. Instead, he spent the day with his wife. ''I'm so grateful he's home,'' she said, "but this is just not something you want to experience.''