by now -- i can share my experiences with you being a victim of a coast guard rescue. let me start off by saying thank you to the coast guard for allowing me to do this and in particular to petty officer christopher evanson for making sure everything was arranged and i was safe at all times. this was perhaps the greatest experience of my professional career - it was certainly the most adventurous. people thought i was crazy when i told them i was doing this. but the focus is not on me - it is on the brave crews who --without fear --pluck victims out of the water and save lives.before i was allowed to do this, i had to pass what the coast guard calls duck training. i swam laps in this pool that seemed as big as an ocean at the time. i did it - that was a big accomplishment for me. then i had to tread water for a minute and learn safety hand signals and learn how the safety equipment worked, just in case i ran into trouble in the middle of the pasquotank river. i was real nervous. but the guy who got me through my training was actually the guy you saw jump from the helicopter - my rescue swimmer - brad pigage. i think they told me he's also one of the best triathletes in north carolina. when you look at brad you think he's some small guy. that small guy is the reason why i succeeded in this --mission -- if you will. learning how the pilot, co-pilot, brad (the rescue swimmer) and hunter (our repair mechanic) work together to pull off these rescues was incredible. watch the story online here at wvec.com for the explanation of what they do. but they had each other's backs -- and mine as well. what a relief it was when i finally made it back into that helicopter. but before that......i nearly froze,,,,as in being afraid. it was one of the coldest mornings of the year - we started at 7:30am. it was freezing. but the water was actually not too bad so that was a good sign. my duck training ended at around 9. we hung out for a while waiting for the boat to arrive that would take me out in the middle of the pasquotank river. it was a little late - which made me even more nervous - i started to get cold feet. but there was no way i could back out now. it finally arrived and the moment was here. we did some promo shots (when you do a special story like this -- you'd better come back with some promo shots that the station uses to get you to watch the story). my photographer jason walsh was laughing at me because i was in that very, very tight orange wet suit -- he said i looked like a big pumpkin. jason - who is normally joe flanagan's photographer - has been with me on many adventures -- we went to england together and traced the steps of the jamestown settlers....we've been behind the scenes at wheel of fortune and jeopardy...this trumped all of those stories. jason thought it was the coolest thing he'd ever seen professionally speaking. he and the crew on the boat knew i was a little nervous so leave it to them to razz me. they gave me great advice like - don't have an accident - sharks are attracted to (you know what), or if the helicopter happens to fly away with you still in the water - don't worry - it's not a far swim back to shore. thanks guys. after my promo shots, i just said forget it -- let's do it - and i jumped in. funny thing was before this whole thing started brad and i had an agreement - leave me in the water for :30 seconds so i can experience what it's like to be stranded at sea overboard for a little bit and then come get me. that :30 seconds seemed like an eternity. oh man - i started to panic - and i even had on alot of safety equipment and a wet suit that kept me afloat. please please please have the proper safety equipment whenever you're on the water. the rotor wash started kicking up -- the wind and the waves - i panicked. finally - in the middle of all of that - i actually saw a rainbow and then heard brad's voice as he was swimming towards me. that is when i knew i was ok. for a while though i was in the water saying to myself why did i do this? and what you cannot hear in the story is what i first said to brad when he came near: "that was way longer than 30 seconds - get me out of here!" that was so funny. brad pulled me towards the hoist basket and another funny moment happened that wasn't in the story -- i didn't know how to get in the hoist basket and i started to freak out. all i heard was brad raising his voice so i could hear him but i wasn't making sense of anything. finally he said -- put your arm through this bar -- i couldn't. then he said lay down and stretch out your legs - i said but where's the bottom of the hoist basket? finally he said calm down - i did - and before i knew it - i was being lifted in the hoist basket by hunter who was above in the helicopter. it was at that moment when i really started to have fun. but before i knew it - hunter's hand was on the hoist basket and he said you did it. i said boy it's great to see you. man - what an experience. but then -- you have to realize the job was not done because brad was still in the water. hunter finally got him up to safety and i rubbed his shaved bald head and said thank you so much for taking care of me -- we did it! and brad seemed to be just as giddy as i was. what great teamwork. what great guys. the view over the pasquotank river was absolutely gorgeous. i knew this would be a great experience to take back to all of you -- our viewers -- and i couldn't wait to get it on the air. we did this about 2 weeks ago - one of those days when they say "lasalle is on assignment." what an assignment this was. i got to do something amazing. i pushed myself physically and made new friends. those guys were so encouraging to me and so supportive -- so much so that they didn't laugh at me when i originally put the wet suit on backwards (oh the stuff that goes into a story that you all don't see on camera). oh - and if you're wondering how we got so many angles of the rescue, jason had a camera on the boat.....we had a hoist camera on the helicopter that shot straight down into the water.....and petty officer evanson was also shooting with a camera inside the helicopter - his shots are the ones you see of the crew before my rescue and of brad diving into the water and coming to get me. without his help, i could not have told this story -- the story of what goes into a coast guard rescue. there is so much that i left out for time purposes-- the many many many hours of training that these men and women go though -- more of the dedication and love of country that drives them to be the guardians of our shores. i was able to scratch the surface of what they do, and speaking of the surface, boy was i glad i surfaced from the pasquotank river to be able to tell you this story and salute the members of our coast guard. to those of you in elizabeth city - thank you for the time of my life and for taking such great care of me. to those of you who watched the story, i hope you learned at least a little bit and came away with a new sense of appreciation for our coast guard. i know i sure did.