Father-son snowmobilers survive plunge into frigid Lake Koshkonong
(Published Monday, February 19, 2007 11:02:43 AM CST)
A d v e r t i s e m e n t
By Frank Schultz Gazette Staff
NEWVILLE
August "Augie" Saccoccio could see the ice move in waves behind his son's snowmobile as it roared into the darkness ahead of him.
He knew they were about to get very wet. And very cold.
It was shortly before 11 p.m. Saturday on Lake Koshkonong. Augie and his 16-year-old son, Salvatore, were out for a ride on borrowed snowmobiles. They spoke this morning about their accident and rescue.
They are safe, with no permanent injuries. But all that was in doubt as the snowmobiles broke through.
Sal, too, could see he was in trouble. He heard the ice cracking as he passed over it. He gunned his engine to try to skim over the thin ice. Then, he tried to turn and look for his father. That's when he went in.
Augie figured he could have swerved away from the danger, but he decided to stay with his son. "I wasn't thinking of anything else, you know. I figured him and I together-we'd fight our way out."
The cold shocked them both. They were drenched and worried about frostbite.
The sheriff's department later attributed the accident to inexperience and unfamiliarity with the area. Speed and alcohol are not believed to be factors.
Augie, who lives in North Carolina, was visiting Sal when the two helped a man in the Mallwood subdivision fix his snowmobile. The grateful man loaned them the machines.
Augie had limited experience on snowmobiles. Sal had none, the sheriff's department reported.
Augie said he didn't know a river feeds the lake, so he expected better ice. The Saccoccios had strayed toward the west end of the lake, where it empties into the Rock River. By the time they realized their predicament, it was too late.
They shouted to each other. With water 4 to 5 feet deep, they could stand on their machines, but most of their clothing was soaked through.
Augie, 46, and Sal tried several times to get to each other. Augie took off his gloves so he could grip the ice. The ice was too thin. He broke through, and the ice cut his hands. He retreated to his snowmobile.
"He was trying to get to me the whole time, and I was telling him to stay on the snowmobile," Sal recalled.
Sal had gone in up to his neck. He stood in water up to his waist.
Their lower limbs went numb. Augie put his hands in his jacket to preserve some warmth. The jacket froze shut.
"The whole thing you're trying to think of is survival: How are we going to get out," Augie said. "My thing as a father was to make sure my son was OK."
Help was nearby.
Christopher J. Hart of 1713 E. Road 8, was in his kitchen when he saw the two snowmobiles, according to a Rock County Sheriff's Department report.
"Hart knew there was open water on the lake and stayed near the window of his kitchen," the report reads.
"Hart said he saw the two snowmobiles, which were not traveling very fast, go into the open water … Hart had his girlfriend, Kimberly Ott, call 911 while he went outside with a flashlight. … Hart said he could see the two operators in the water and heard them talking to each other.
"When police/fire rescue arrived, Hart showed them where the operators were," the report reads.
The Saccoccios could hear the sirens and watched the lights of the rescue vehicles coming close.
They were in the water about 50 minutes, the sheriff's department estimated.
"It was the longest 50 minutes ever," said Sal, who lives nearby, at 11676 N. Maple Beach Drive.
Rescue units from Milton, Edgerton and the sheriff's department arrived. The city units put a boat in the water, and the sheriff's department used its airboat.
Soaked and chilled to the bone, the two shook as they recovered from hypothermia in the ambulance and at Edgerton Memorial Hospital.
"Let's say you had a big ice tray. Put your foot in that ice tray and then freeze it," Sal said.
Then, imagine doing that to your whole body.
Augie said his body shook uncontrollably for nearly an hour at the hospital.
"Another 20 minutes-who knows what would've happened. That water was cold," Sal said. "… I was thanking God that we got out of there. It was too cold."
Augie was brimming with thanks this morning for the neighbors who called 911, for their rescuers and the medical personnel at the hospital.
"God put all the ducks in a row and made sure this thing ended in a good way," he said. "They saved our lives, so my heart and my thanks go out to them."
