Seven catamarans capsize in Lake Ontario

A day of racing on the water quickly turned into a rescue mission for boaters at the Burlington Beach Club on Sunday.

Sailors tell CityNews seven catamarans capsized early Sunday afternoon near Spencer Smith Park in Lake Ontario.

“I’m still kind of shivering,” Anthony Bunville, one of the sailors explains, minutes after he helped two men retrieve their boat and bring it back to shore. “My knees were red, and when we were flipping, I was shaking.”

Bunville said three of the boats that capsized were abandoned.

At least two boaters were left stranded and forced to swim back to shore.

“We weren’t sure when the hyperthermia would set in,” Rafal Luczynski said, after swimming nearly an hour to shore.

He, along with Adam Sterkowicz was left stuck in the water after a sudden storm caused their boat to flip and drift away around 2:30 p.m.
Sterkowicz had to be rescued by police.

“We were just wondering if we’d ever get there, it was a long swim,” he said.

The boaters say they were caught up in a hail storm, rains were pouring and winds gusting at about 90 km per hour.

“The wind just picked them up and cartwheeled them,” said Martin Vandenberg, whose boat also capsized. “Everybody got damaged, but we’re all alive, thank god.

Police say no injuries were reported at the scene.