While training how to Captain a sailboat for certification by (ASA) The American Sailing Association, Doug spotted what he thought was a man's head popping up next to a channel buoy that marks the lanes for power boats leaving Marina Del Rey harbor to the open ocean. When he and his instructor, Troy Smith, sailed up for a closer look, indeed they found a man clinging for his life. They pulled the man aboard who then passed out shivering violently from hypothermia. They called 911 and sailed him to the dock at the Marina Del Rey Coast Guard station where a waiting team of paramedics revived the man after about 20 minutes in a heated rescue bag. The man was then taken to the hospital. The irony was at the time Doug spotted the man he had just finished practicing the procedures a Captain takes during a Man Overboard drill, which is part of the test to become certified. The following day Doug passed his test with the California Sailing Academy and was certified by The American Sailing Association.
