THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Tuesday, November 8, 1994 TAG: 9411080353
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY KAREN E. QUINONES MILLER, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: PORTSMOUTH LENGTH: Long : 132 lines
When Brian K. Wall went to work Monday afternoon he was just waiting for someone to ask, ``How was your weekend?''
While other people biked or hiked or did yard work on the first weekend of November, Wall was wading through marshes and swimming across a bay, trying to get help for his wife and daughter stranded on a desolate island on the Eastern Shore.
``It was the hardest thing I've ever done, and if I didn't have Cindy and Sarah as motivation, I probably wouldn't have made it,'' said Wall, 36, a mechanical engineer. ``Every time I started feeling whipped I'd think of my wife and daughter and keep on trekking.''
Saturday seemed like such a good day to go boating. The temperature was in the 80s, the sun was shining and the Magothy Bay was beckoning.
So Brian and Cindy, former high school sweethearts at Kempsville High, packed up their 1-year-old daughter, Sarah, got a couple of bags of pretzels, and jug of water, hooked up their inflatable boat to the family car and headed out to the Eastern Shore.
``We've always loved the Eastern Shore and boating, and we wanted to take advantage of the good weather,'' said Cindy Wall, 36.
They parked their car near Magotha and launched the Avon inflatable pontoon boat that they had bought five years before.
It was almost lunch time when they reached Myrtle Island, a small island made up mostly of marsh, so they stopped to feed Sarah.
After they anchored the boat they had to walk through a marsh to get to the beach. After navigating his wife and daughter through, Brian went back to see if he could bring the boat a little closer. But as he dragged the boat over an oyster bed, he heard a hissing sound. A 2-inch gash had opened up in one, and then the other pontoon.
``When the boat deflated, all of my hopes of getting home deflated,'' said Wall. ``It was a sinking feeling.''
``We were extremely bummed, but we didn't think we were in any real danger at that point,'' Cindy said. ``We were near an inlet, so we thought a commercial boat or a pleasure boat would come through and save us.''
So they waited. And waited. And waited.
About 5 p.m. the sun began to go down, and their spirits with it. They realized they were probably stuck for at least the night, so they began to prepare to make the best of it.
They dragged the boat behind a sand dune and propped it up into a makeshift shelter. Brian and Cindy had on only shorts and shirts, but they had brought extra clothes for Sarah. They put them on her and then wrapped her up in a towel.
``Sarah slept pretty good, but neither Brian nor I slept,'' Cindy said. ``Well . . . I might have dozed off a couple of times, but Brian stayed up all night.''
During the night they saw a Coast Guard helicopter pass over the island, which raised their hopes again. Maybe, they thought, a neighbor had called the Coast Guard when they hadn't returned to Portsmouth. If so, the Coast Guard would probably send someone out to get them in the morning.
Daylight came and they waited. And waited. And waited.
By 11 a.m. Brian realized he had to go get help. He had to make it through the marshes, through the bay and back to the mainland. He assured Cindy that he would be back by nightfall with help.
``I was pretty hysterical when Brian got ready to leave, because I felt so powerless,'' Cindy said. ``To tell the truth I wasn't sure he was going to make it across the bay, but I didn't know what else we could do.''
Brian set out.
``The first part of the trek wasn't too bad, the marsh wasn't too mucky, but the further inland I went the worse it got,'' Brian said. In some of the marshes, the water came to his knees. In others, it reached his bare thighs. Walking was difficult, and his legs began to feel like lead.
There were also numerous small creeks to be crossed, which slowed him down even more, Brian said.
Then, as if to add insult to injury, it began to rain.
``I was thinking about Cindy and Sarah the whole time, but when it began to rain I really started thinking about them back there . . . well it wasn't a good thought,'' Brian said.
Meanwhile night had fallen, and Cindy began to despair. Brian had said he'd be back by nightfall, and Brian was always so dependable. Her father had once joked that if Brian said he was going to be somewhere at a certain time you could set a clock by him.
``I was trying to keep the faith, that he was going to come back, but I couldn't help thinking the worst,'' she said.
She began to settle in for another long night, trying to figure out how she and her little daughter were going to survive.
At about 4 p.m. Brian finally made it to the Magothy Bay, the only thing left separating him from the mainland. Looking straight across he could see a house where he could perhaps get help.
He waded into the water.
``It was up by my shoulders almost immediately, which meant I would have to swim, but I knew I wouldn't be able to make it,'' Brian said. ``I was just so tired, and my legs were cramping up, and I knew there was no way I'd be able to swim across.''
He turned back around and began to walk along the shore, searching for a narrower and shallower area of the bay. He found it about 20 minutes later, and managed to wade and swim his way to the mainland and to the house.
There was no answer when he banged on the door, but when he tried the doorknob he found the house was unlocked. He let himself in and called the police.
``I figured if someone came in and found me, once I told them what happened they wouldn't mind,'' Brian said.
The police put Brian in touch with the Coast Guard, which in turn notified the Marine Resources Commission, which sent someone out to get Brian.
Meanwhile, a Coast Guard chopper went out after Cindy and Sarah.
``When the I saw the helicopter I was so relieved, but I was so upset that Brian wasn't there,'' Cindy said. ``I thought if he had just waited we would all have been rescued together.''
The first thing Cindy told the helicopter crewmen was that her husband was still missing. They then told her that he had already been found and was safe.
``At that point,'' said Cindy, ``the relief was unbelievable.''
The family had a tearful reunion at Northampton-Accomack Memorial Hospital, where doctors checked the family's vital signs. They were released later that night - tired but happy.
``I had a boss who used to say I was determined as an old mule,'' said Brian. ``He called me up today and said my being like a mule finally paid off.''
Brian and Cindy said the weekend's events have not put a damper on their love for boating.
``Oh, I'll go out again, but probably not right away, and probably not to the Eastern Shore,'' Cindy said.
``I'll go to the Eastern Shore again,'' Brian said, adding after a pause, ``But not in an inflatable boat.'' ILLUSTRATION: Color staff photo by MARTIN SMITH-RODDEN/
Brian and Cindy Wall, with their daughter, Sarah, at home in Port
Norfolk. Home looked especially good after their Eastern Shore
outing.
by CNB