'Thanks for Saving My Life:' Daughter of Cooperstown Rescues Sailor

By ERIC SANTOMAURO-STENZEL
COOPERSTOWN

Despite the clear early afternoon skies over Otsego Lake on July 22, few sailors were braving the winds and white caps. Among them were Olivia Gotwald and a man known only as Steve, from the Albany area.

This mysterious Steve, a new member of the Otsego Sailing Club, was on a Laser sailboat. The Laser is ultralight, a one-seater designed for racing speed with a sail larger than its hull. In harsh winds, it becomes difficult to control. Meanwhile, Gotwald’s trip was utilitarian. After captaining a voyage on a 17-foot Montauk Boston Whaler from Sam Smith’s Boatyard to the Cooperstown Country Club for lunch, she was now on a trip up to Springfield to see friends.

Gotwald, a 31-year-old Cooperstown native who splits her time between here and Montana, was “having a nice cruise” over the middle of the lake when she saw the sailboat “capsize really hard” about a mile away. The only other boat as far as Gotwald could see was the Glimmerglass Queen, too far away to render immediate assistance.

The Laser “just flipped straight to the water” just south of Kingfisher Tower, Gotwald said. “And I thought, ‘Oh gosh, that’s not good!’”