3 Texas boaters missing for a week rescued at sea

[wiley]

PORT ARANSAS, Texas (AP) -- Three Texas boaters missing for a week were reunited with their families early Sunday after they were found alive, sitting on top of their capsized catamaran 180 miles from land, the Coast Guard said.

The crew of the Affordable Fantasy spotted the men Saturday night off Port Aransas and rescued them from their 23-foot catamaran, said Petty Officer 3rd Class Renee Aiello. A Coast Guard boat met them and brought them back to land, where emergency management services crews were waiting for them. They declined medical attention.

They were identified as Curtis Hall, 28, of Palacios; Tressel Hawkins, 43, of Markham; and James Phillips, 30, of Blessing, who owned the boat.

The three were reported missing Aug. 22 after they left Matagorda, about 90 miles southwest of Houston, on a fishing trip and never returned. Port Aransas is about 130 miles from Matagorda.

The three went to sleep that Friday night and were awakened by water coming in, said Shane Phillips, whose husband, James, was relaxing Sunday with his five children.

"They tried to start the pumps to get the water out," she told the Houston Chronicle. "They would not start."

They fired off three flares hoping to get the attention of workers at a nearby oil rig, but no one responded. The boat capsized that night.

The Coast Guard officials said they survived because they stuck with the boat. The men also rationed bubble gum and crackers and used a hose to suck fresh water out of the internal "washdown" tank. Fishermen often keep such a tank to wash fish slime off their boat when they are out in the salt water.

"It's not the cleanest, not the greatest and it tasted like diesel," Shane Phillips told the newspaper.

The Coast Guard had called off its search Friday after scouring 86,000 square miles of water without finding them.

"It's like finding a needle in a haystack out in the Gulf of Mexico," Aiello said late Saturday. "It's obvious they had a will to survive, and they did it for seven days."

Hall's fiancee, Rebecca Kern, said it was difficult to describe her emotions.

"It's just been a roller coaster of emotions all week, the not knowing, getting upset and fearing for them out there. We weren't going to give up," she said. "We knew they were out there on that boat and we had to bring them home."

[v70cat]

PORT ARANSAS, Texas (AP) -- Three Texas boaters missing for a week were reunited with their families early Sunday after they were found alive, sitting on top of their capsized catamaran 180 miles from land, the Coast Guard said.

The crew of the Affordable Fantasy spotted the men Saturday night off Port Aransas and rescued them from their 23-foot catamaran, said Petty Officer 3rd Class Renee Aiello. A Coast Guard boat met them and brought them back to land, where emergency management services crews were waiting for them. They declined medical attention.

They were identified as Curtis Hall, 28, of Palacios; Tressel Hawkins, 43, of Markham; and James Phillips, 30, of Blessing, who owned the boat.

The three were reported missing Aug. 22 after they left Matagorda, about 90 miles southwest of Houston, on a fishing trip and never returned. Port Aransas is about 130 miles from Matagorda.

The three went to sleep that Friday night and were awakened by water coming in, said Shane Phillips, whose husband, James, was relaxing Sunday with his five children.

"They tried to start the pumps to get the water out," she told the Houston Chronicle. "They would not start."

They fired off three flares hoping to get the attention of workers at a nearby oil rig, but no one responded. The boat capsized that night.

The Coast Guard officials said they survived because they stuck with the boat. The men also rationed bubble gum and crackers and used a hose to suck fresh water out of the internal "washdown" tank. Fishermen often keep such a tank to wash fish slime off their boat when they are out in the salt water.

"It's not the cleanest, not the greatest and it tasted like diesel," Shane Phillips told the newspaper.

The Coast Guard had called off its search Friday after scouring 86,000 square miles of water without finding them.

"It's like finding a needle in a haystack out in the Gulf of Mexico," Aiello said late Saturday. "It's obvious they had a will to survive, and they did it for seven days."

Hall's fiancee, Rebecca Kern, said it was difficult to describe her emotions.

"It's just been a roller coaster of emotions all week, the not knowing, getting upset and fearing for them out there. We weren't going to give up," she said. "We knew they were out there on that boat and we had to bring them home."

[v70cat]

Wonder why the CG could not find them?

[fichtion]

i do not boat off shore, but in long island sound

you can always see shore and vhf reception is good as well as cell.

but how can one boat off shore without an epirb?

it also sounds like no one stood night watch when maybe they could have worked on the problem before it was too late

glad they are safe and home

[Trollnheel]

Survival of the fittest. I'm always a sucker for a happy ending

[welder]

What they had or had not on the boat after the roll over is another story and it makes us think of what we NEED to carry on our own boats.

The point of the story is , They used their heads to survive , a lot can be learned just from that .

#1 Don't leave the boat .

#2 Gather everything you can out of the water.

#3 Don't leave the boat.

#4 Put on your life jackets and stay calm.

#5 Don't leave the boat.

I'm sure that one or all three will post on www.2coolfishing.com and tell their stories as to what they had and how it was lost or used.

I'm going to sit back and wait to hear their story before I make any comments about why's and why not's.

I'm with Ralph, I love HAPPY endings.

[txhedg]

i do not boat off shore, but in long island sound

you can always see shore and vhf reception is good as well as cell.

but how can one boat off shore without an epirb?

it also sounds like no one stood night watch when maybe they could have worked on the problem before it was too late

glad they are safe and home

x2

although there have been a few times running back at 35 kts from Montauk or Greenport to CT, with the sun just about down, when i've wondered if there was a problem (usually comes to mind when i see one of those telephone pole-sized logs floating out there) if anyone would find me before morning if i struck something and was thrown from the boat......

I am much more comfortable now that ive got the Fastfind PLB in my pocket pretty much all the time im running the boat.

[texrford]

Wonder why the CG could not find them?

Offshore in the western Gulf, the direction of currents impacting a boat's drift can vary depending on location. In one spot, the boat may be drifting east; move 20 miles to the west and the drift direction may move the boat south.

The Coast Guard calculated the drift of the boat based on it being at a specific oil platform (Tequila I think) while the boat capsized at another location called Hilltops. By doing this, the drift of the capsized boat was off, impacting the location of the search grid.

Also, the boat was not reported missing until 24 hours after it capsized. The CG dropped current measuring buoys 24 or more hours after the fact. That could have thrown things off, also.

To me, it sounds like the CG did the best they could with the information they had at hand at the time. They did indicate they were going to review the situation.

The solution to all of this: make everybody's life easier, carry an EPIRB.

In any case, I was overjoyed to see a happy ending!

Edited September 2, 2009 by texrford

[one4water]

Glad to see they are home safe and sound but would love to hear the whole story from one of them.

Edited September 3, 2009 by one4water

[texrford]

The Houston Chronicle did a good article on the story, just in case you may have not seen it:

Coast Guard looks for lessons in Matagorda miracle

As these men do not play college or NFL Football, I am not sure they will get the media pursuit the tragedy off Florida's Gulf coast received, even though their story may be as dramatic.

I have not checked 2CoolFishing, which mainly covers Texas fishing. As the folks on that forum raised money and organized search efforts, maybe the 3 men will have some comments on that forum

Edited September 4, 2009 by texrford