ROCKLAND — A grandfather went out one day fishing on a river in Virginia with his two grandsons. It was a cold day with 30-40 degree Fahrenheit weather. The boat capsized and the Coast Guard was called.

Mario Vittone, a leading expert on immersion hypothermia, drowning, sea survival and safety at sea, was one of the Coast Guard crew who arrived at the scene. “I knew before we even took off they were all dead,” he said. “And that one really bothered me. Here was a guy who’d had all of the right credentials. He was a master chief, he was a safety expert; he’d gotten awards for it. How could this happen? This incident just showed me with all the gains we’ve made in technology to make boating safe, the last great gain we need to make is to change the way people think when they’re on the water.”

The Allen Agency, which has roots in Maine’s working waterfront, is sponsoring Vittone, who lives in Florida, to come to Maine Thursday, May 5, at 7 p.m. and speak at The Strand Theater in Rockland. His presentation is titled: "You Love the Ocean – It Doesn't Love You Back: Thrilling stories and exciting tales designed to make your life on the water safe and survivable." It is a fundraiser for scholarships at Maine Maritime Academy.

“If you fall off a boat and they can’t find you immediately, there’s a 40 percent chance you’re never going to be seen again, alive or dead,” he said. “I came home from a lot of searches for people we’ve never found. And I started to know the difference between people who survived and people who didn’t and it was simply misunderstandings of the hazards. I realized I could save more lives, not by looking for the people in the water, but by doing presentations to tell people what to look for.”

Based in Florida, Vittone was a lifeguard from a young age. He joined the Coast Guard in 1991. He graduated from helicopter rescue swimmer school in 1994 and began his career as helicopter rescue swimmer, until his retirement in 2013. He is now the CEO of VLinc Corporation, where he oversees the development of maritime safety and security training products, helping mariners come home safely from their work at sea. 

“I learned a lot about people who would and would not call the Coast Guard,” he said, giving one example. “Usually maydays start with something that isn’t a mayday, such as the boat takes on a bit of water. You’re trying to figure out where it comes from and you are trying to handle it, you’ve got the tools and you’re trying to see where the leak is coming from. And then it gets a little worse, but you think you’ve got it handled because you’ve been focusing on the problem. And then over the course of a few hours, you realize, you have to make that call. But, you could have made that call four hours ago. Primarily, those calls don’t happen soon enough.”

The title of his presentation is both blunt and accurate. “The ocean doesn’t care what you do for a living, what kind of boat you’re on, whether you’ve been sailing for one year or many,” he said. His experience is not just limited to rescuing leisure boaters. In a no-nonsense column he wrote for the maritime website gCaptain called Trying Hard to Die, he recounts the story of a Long Island lobsterman who did all the wrong things, yet miraculously survived 12 hours in the Atlantic without a life jacket after accidentally falling overboard. Vittone said the most important thing one can change while on the water is their behavior and respect the dangers that are inherent.

The event is sponsored by Allen Insurance and Financial, Ocean Navigator magazine, Professional Mariner magazine, Maine Boats Homes & Harbors magazine and The Strand Theatre. Tickets can be purchased at The Strand.

For more information about Mario Vittone’s work and writing visit: http://mariovittone.com/