Stranded on a sailboat -- father and son rescued by helicopter

CHARLESTON -- The U.S. Coast Guard rescued a Hilton Head Island father and son Saturday night when their 36-foot sailboat ran aground near the south jetty at the entrance of Charleston Harbor.

Peter Hyers, 54, and Christopher Hyers, 22, were hoisted to safety by helicopter at around 9 p.m., less than an hour after another boater radioed the grounding to Coast Guard search-and-rescue coordinators.

The pair could not be rescued by boat because of the shallow water surrounding the jetty, one of two completed in 1898 to prevent sand from accumulating at the harbor entrance.

The Hyerses were about a mile out from Fort Sumter, according to the Coast Guard office in Charleston.

Portions of the rock jetties, which extend out several miles from the harbor, sometimes are submerged during high tides. That didn't appear to be a factor in Saturday's wreck, which occurred during low tide.

Lt. Cmdr. Eric King of the Coast Guard's Sector Charleston said boaters occasionally need to be rescued from the jetties, especially those unfamiliar with the area.

"We haven't debriefed them yet to find out what exactly happened," King said.

Peter Hyers, reached by phone at his Hilton Head home Sunday evening, declined to comment.

The Coast Guard said Hyers is working with a company to remove the boat from the jetty. That work is expected to occur this morning.