By PAT EATON-ROBB
Monday, June 13, 2016 01:36PM
HARTFORD, Connecticut -- A group of boaters on an evening trip got blown far off the Connecticut coast by strong winds, leading to the death of a kayaker, injuring two others in the vessel and leaving the Coast Guard searching for a man on a paddleboard.
The boaters left Hammonasset Beach State Park in Madison at about 6 p.m. Sunday. A woman and her young daughter who were in the kayak were found Monday morning on a beach across Long Island Sound in New York. Her boyfriend's body was found nearby.
The Coast Guard was searching Monday for a 44-year-old Manchester, Connecticut, man who had been traveling with them on the paddleboard.
Coast Guard Lt. Matthew Richards said winds gusting at about 40 mph blew their kayak about 14 miles across the sound.
"They were just doing a day trip around Hammonasset," said Richards. "But they were overcome by the gale-force winds. At one point it capsized the kayak."
Authorities say they were found on a beach in Southold, New York, at about 4 a.m. Monday by people who heard their cries for help. The woman's 31-year-old boyfriend was found a short distance away and had succumbed to hypothermia, Richards said.
The woman and child were being treated for hypothermia at Eastern Long Island Hospital.
Authorities had not released the victims' names Monday.
Richards said the missing 44-year-old man was wearing a personal floatation device and theoretically could survive for up to 13 hours in the water, which was just above 60 degrees. The search for him involved a helicopter, several Coast Guard vessels along with boats from several local police departments.
Richards said it was one of two boating accidents Sunday on Long Island Sound.
One person swam to shore and another was missing after an inflatable raft overturned in Bridgeport Harbor earlier in the day, he said. That missing boater was not wearing a life jacket, he said.
There was a small craft advisory posted for the area Sunday because of the wind conditions, he said.
"On sunny days it feels like it's a nice time to go out there," he said. "But conditions can change very fast and the water is still very cold. It's very dangerous."