Ocean Rescue Was ‘Miracle’ Ending for Woman Ready to Die : Ordeal: Swept overboard, she spent 8 hours in water before a discouraged Coast Guard rescue team, by chance, heard her shouts.

A woman who was swept off a sailboat in rough seas off Santa Barbara and clung to a flotation device for more than eight hours called her rescue Saturday by the U.S. Coast Guard “a miracle” and a “surprising ending” to her ordeal.

Kathy Milway, 34, of Santa Cruz said she survived by remaining calm, concentrating on floating, kicking to stay warm and thinking about family and friends.

“I just thought, I’ll keep kicking toward shore,” Milway said Saturday night in a telephone interview from Goleta Valley Hospital, where she was being treated for dehydration, mild exposure and hypothermia. “That was the only way to stay warm.”

Early on, Milway said, she came to terms with the idea that she might not be rescued. “It was a surprising ending. I was just waiting to die. I realized there’s no way they were going to find me out there--the waves were too high.

“The only way they were going to find me was to run into me, which is what happened. It was a miracle.”

Milway, whose doctor said she might have fared worse had she not been physically fit, was pulled from the 68-degree water by crew members of the Point Carrew, a Coast Guard cutter, shortly after officials decided to call off their search for her until daybreak.

Discouraged by darkness and choppy seas off Santa Cruz Island’s West Point, the rescuers were returning home when they heard Milway’s shouts.

“She was extremely lucky,” Petty Officer Jeff Gunn said. “We just stumbled onto her in the dark.”

Milway was pulled from the ocean at 2:27 a.m., more than eight hours after Coast Guard officials received a radio call from a friend with whom she was sailing, reporting that she had been washed overboard from their sloop, Gunn said.

John Patton, 45, of Santa Barbara and Milway had been sailing their 28-foot boat in the Santa Cruz Channel when strong winds and 15-foot waves began turning the sailboat on its side, threatening to capsize it.

“The boat was knocked down several times, and the sails were all blown out and shredded,” Gunn said.

One wave swept Milway off the deck, prompting Patton to place a distress call to the Coast Guard at 5:58 p.m. on Friday, Gunn said.

When she tumbled into the ocean, Milway said, Patton “threw everything out of the boat he could find that would float.” She grabbed a seat cushion that doubled as a flotation device.

“I’m not a swimmer,” Milway said. “I sink. But this was more of a floating situation. So I concentrated on that and set a goal that I would just keep kicking toward shore.”

Milway said she believes that staying calm helped her survive. “The peace I had, it was like a miracle. The stars were beautiful and the ocean was sparkling. Nine hours gives you a lot of time to evaluate life--and think about your family and friends.”

By the time rescuers arrived at the scene where Milway went overboard, there was no sign of her. A Coast Guard helicopter hoisted Patton from the deck of the drifting sloop as Point Carrew crew members searched the ocean for Milway. Although she saw them, they did not see her.

“I saw several helicopters flying overhead but it was hard for them to find me,” she said. “It was really strange. I felt there was not a whole lot I could do.”

In the end, officials decided to call off their search until dawn when additional boats could help search the area where they believed Milway may have drifted.

But as the Point Carrew started making its way back to the Channel Islands, crew members suddenly heard shouts from the ocean and discovered a “coherent, cold and shivering” Milway.

“They were lucky to find her in the water,” Gunn said. “There was a good chance that she might not have made it through the night.”

Dr. Larry Mietus, an internist at Goleta Valley Hospital, said Saturday that Milway was fatigued but in excellent condition, and may be able to leave the hospital soon.

“She is in good spirits, and I don’t expect her to have any permanent damage,” he added. “She has sore muscles and pains from exertion, but she’s in good medical condition.”

Mietus said Milway was wearing “long trousers” during her ordeal and suffered slight scrapes behind her knees from the constant kicking motions in the water.

Mietus added that it was likely that Milway’s physically fit condition helped her survive. “She is a fit individual. She does some bicycling. She’s in good condition . . . but she hates swimming.”

Milway gives the credit to her rescuers. “The Coast Guard guys deserve a big round of applause. I feel very fortunate they were there.”