A multi-agency search in Great Peconic Bay ended when three women adrift on a float were found unharmed on Sunday afternoon, Southold Town police said.
Denise Tripodi, a 51-year-old Brookhaven resident, reported losing her three sisters on a float off the west side of Robins Island, near Mattituck, just after 3 p.m. The group had rented a boat and were anchored with three people on a float that was tied to the boat.
When an unoccupied float drifted away from the boat, Tripodi pulled up the anchor, untied the float that had people in it and went to retrieve the float that was adrift. When she returned, she could not find the women or the float they had been on.
After 15 minutes, she contacted Southold police. Bay Constable and a police officer responded to search the area.
Two Southampton bay constables along with the Coast Guard, Department of Environmental Conservation, the Cutchogue Fire Department, and the Suffolk County police aviation unit conducted a search of the Great Peconic Bay.
In the end a passing boater found the women — Laurie Tripodi, 47, of Brookhaven, Linda Tripodi, 57, of East Patchogue, and Faith Tripodi, 20, of East Patchogue — afloat off Kimogener Point in Southold. They were not injured.
