It was a beautiful mid November morning. On board was my mate Kerry and our passenger a world known nature celebrity and survival expert, Jeff Corwin. I am an accomplished charter captain and former USCG Boatswains mate with thousands of hours in Survival training. We left Scituate harbor around 5am. The weather was beautiful, light winds, sunny skies and the air temperature was around 60* fht. The plan for the day was to travel about 25 miles offshore to Stellwagen bank an area known for great quantities of sea life. Our target was Bluefin tuna what a beautiful day what could go wrong? When we arrived at Stellwagen the wind had increased slightly and the wave conditions were about 2 to 3 feet, perfect for tuna fishing. The water temperature was 50*fht., also perfect for tuna fishing. The crew was excited, tuna where jumping everywhere and things looked good. Kerry was putting the first rig in the water and slam we hooked up with a 150 pound Bluefin tuna. Jeff spent over an hour reeling in this monster on light tackle the biggest fish he had ever caught. After he destroyed himself on the tuna, Jeff decided he wanted to go bottom fishing, one tuna was enough for him. We headed east another 10 miles offshore to a well known local bottom fishing spot that has produced some of the biggest cod in the world. When we arrived at our destination the weather had improved the sea conditions were about 1 to 2 feet the air temperature was around 65* fht. and the water around 50*. Again perfect for a great afternoon of bottom fishing. The tide was moving out (east) and we where catching fish like crazy, what a beautiful day what could go wrong? Jeff caught his limit of Cod, Haddock and Pollock and we decided to go home a little early, we headed towards Scituate. Kerry cleaned the fish and prepared the boat for the 2 hr ride home. He asked me if it would be OK if he took a nap because he had worked the night before and needed some sleep. I said no problem, we only have one guest aboard I can handle it. I was operating the boat from the fly bridge, it was sunny and warm I put the boat into auto pilot mode and kicked back for a nice ride home. Jeff was down in the main salon and Kerry was napping in the forward V berth. Again what a beautiful day what could go wrong? The clouds had started to move in and the wind had increased, the waves where around 2 feet. It was getting a bit chilly on the bridge with no jacket. I decided to go down to the main salon and drive from there. The boat was traveling around 18 knots on auto pilot and we were about 20 miles offshore. Being ignorant that the boat could steer itself for the 10 seconds or so that it would take me to go down the ladder, I looked in front and saw nothing I could hit. I then proceeded down the ladder while looking through the front windshield to avoid an accident. When I reached the deck below a wave caught me off guard and proceeded to flip me over the side just like someone pushed me, while another person was behind my knees. Splash in a blink of an eye it happened so quickly I don’t even know what happened. As my head popped up and I looked at the boat it was driving away from me at 18 knots. It appeared to me that no one saw me fall overboard, I panicked! I began to scream help, but no one heard me, I panicked! As I was watching the boat drive away I realized that I needed floatation I am sinking, I controlled my panic. At that point the first thing I needed to do was float. My boots and clothing are causing me to sink. The waves are splashing and making it very difficult to stay up. Using one of my boots I flipped it over and trapped some air and held it with my hand. This helped for a second. I could not hold on and tread water at the same time. I dropped my boots. At this time I hear the engine in the boat getting further away. Jeff for some reason decided to look behind the boat “he does not know why”, but he did. When he looked back he saw me about 50 yards behind the boat and wondered “what kind of practical joke is this”? It took Jeff about 5 seconds to realize this was not a practical joke. He screamed for Kerry and ran to the helm. Jeff had no experience driving my boat and I did not explain any of the equipment to him. He could not stop the boat it was in auto pilot mode and would not let him take control until he disengaged the auto pilot “oh no” what button to push? He finally pulled the shift lever out of gear this stopped the boat but the engine was still at cruising throttle causing the engine to wine at high rpm. Hearing this Kerry came up to see what was going on. Jeff explained that Greg had just fallen overboard and he is pretty far away. Kerry wondered at first “what kind of practical joke is this”? Until Jeff was jumping up and down yelling at Kerry to “turn the f**#ing boat around”. With that outburst, Kerry realized this was not a practical joke. I was beginning to feel the effects of hypothermia loosing the ability to move my arms. It was becoming extremely difficult to stay afloat. I was watching for the boat every time I came up on a wave I could see Jeff and Kerry running around looking in the wrong direction. I was trying to lift my arms to wave but my cloths were heavy. They could not see me. I was yelling for help but they could not hear me over the engine noise. I did not think I would live much longer without floatation or any way to signal them. I was beginning to accept my fate. I realized the boat was closer to me and they were coming to my rescue, “just in time”. I was beginning to lose the ability to stay afloat my clothes where very heavy. Lucky for me there was a harpoon basket of line with a buoy attached. Kerry maneuvered the boat while Jeff threw the buoy to me, it took two attempts before I could reach the buoy I could not swim a stroke and I am a very good swimmer and certified diver. The guys got me on board and I layed on the deck and counted my blessings. This entire ordeal from falling overboard to being rescued took less than 10 minutes. Even with all the water rescue training I have had I was helpless and drowning in less than a blink of an eye. I hold Jeff and Kerry responsible for saving my life and my gratitude will remain for the rest of my life. I firmly believe if not for an extreme set of circumstance I would not be alive today. How could this happen to me I am the captain trained by years of experience. I am lucky, there are more reasons I should be dead, than there are that I survived. The morals of this story that I have taken with me are: #1 Always be aware of everyone on the boat. #2 Never leave the helm when the boat is moving, without turning it over to a trained person. #3 No napping for crewmembers. #4 Wear a floatation device especially when by yourself. ) There is a huge need for a small personal floatation rescue device that you can attach to your belt. It needs to be small and cheap so that people will wear it. Because of my experience, I am contacting people in product manufacturing in the safety industry to help design and produce such a product. I have realized that your best chances of survival are created in the first seconds or minutes of falling overboard. It happens so fast you can not explain it until it happens to you. There are many stories like this that the people were not as lucky as me. Your best chance of survival begins by being prepared before it happens. I hope my story will help save the life of at least one person who decides to take my words and “be prepared”. The Motto of the USCG is “Semper Peratus” (always prepared). All said: “in the time it took to read this story you could die in 50*fht water.”
Written by: Captain Greg Sears F/V Fortuna 12/1/2008
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Great story, great read Captain Greg with a wonderful ending. As I have gotten older, I never go alone with out my Mustang self inflating life vest. After reading this, think I will start wearing it on the bridge even with a boat full of passengers...
Thanks for sharing this with us...
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