posted 11-30-2009 01:23 AM ET (US)        

[Here is the narrative by Rob Sanford, in case the link above goes dead. I reproduce it here in the interest of getting this narrative to more boaters to learn of this near tragedy--jimh]---

"This may SAVE YOUR LIFE! READ THIS! The REAL story about the Defiance capsizing during the Thanksgiving Halibut Classic BY ME THE GUY DRIVING!

"The first line in this report: We're all alive. The bottom line in this story: We're all alive. This being said, it is time to put the dozens of rumors, second-guessing, and Monday-morning-quarterbacking aside and LEARN a few things from this terrifying day.

"Mike is a great guy, runs a great event and should in NO WAY be blamed for any of this. It is the captain's (my) decision to factor in all of the conditions, vessel, crew, tide, experience, etc., to determine what is safe and when it is safe. I take sole and full responsibility for the accident; I blame no one or have no excuses. But there ARE several reasons this happened the way it did, and learning from it may save a life. If it only saves ONE LIFE, then it will be worth the time spent pecking away at this keyboard.

"The weather reports were substantial, though none of was even the slightest bit nervous or scared as we left the bay around 6:30. Sure, the stuff was big, but spaced out enough to make it manageable.

"We were in a 12,000-pound, 29-foot (about 36 feet length-overall) Defiance pilot house, with twin Yamaha 250 four-stroke engines. We had a full tuna-tower with second station, 115-gallon split bait tank. The floor and bow were all filled with closed-cell floatation foam, Diamond Sea Glaze storm windows, Radar, GPS, Two VHF radios, Two antennas, two hand held VHFs, two Handheld GPS units, a personal EPIRB, two flare guns, extra flares, strobe lights, standard PFDs, six cell phones, etc. The reason I describe this: the gear was USELESS in this situation! You can prepare, prepare, prepare, and then in a flash, you are upside down in the water. There is NO TIME--NO TIME when it goes bad. NO TIME. YOU MUST BE READY.

"After turning up toward the Crystal Pier area, I pointed the boat into the weather. While I tried to control our direction at the helm, three of us tried to fish. It was un-fishable. After an hour, I made the call to go back in and fish the bay. THIS IS WHERE MISTAKE ONE OCCURRED. I should have thought about the stacked up conditions that would be present at the entrance with a falling tide, and a huge swell heading directly into the tide, two hours after the slack-high point. Didn't cross my mind. Didn't think the boat or crew was in danger. Not in the slightest. I have driven into that bay down-swell in dozens of different boats, dozens, if not hundreds of times. Why would this be any different? IT WAS!

"While we were swinging around trying to fish, we had managed to wrap about two hundred yards of mono AND spectra around the port prop. It didn't effect the performance of our ride at ten knots heading back to the bay, BUT IT DID AT FULL THROTTLE WHEN WE NEEDED IT. Conditions were too rough to attempt clearing the prop, and it wasn't affecting our performance, so I made the call to get inside before putting someone out on the swim platform to clear it. Mistake Number TWO.

"The better call would have been to sit outside all day at idle until low slack tide, or limp around to the big bay. Stupid, but I didn't realize it at the time. DO NOT MAKE THE SAME MISTAKE. Stay alive.

"Here we go. I made a big, slow, gradual turn from Pacific Beach to dead-center channel. As we timed the swells, we head in with tabs up, bow up, throttles adjusting for swell speed, the way the brain says to do it, the way we have all done it, by the book, with the feel. Calling on all the experience, anxious, but confident.

"All six of us were in the pilot house, door closed. I was on the back of a gnarly big one timing it. The wave started gaining on us, leaving us behind. I throttled all the way up to catch it, and had no thrust from my port motor. It was the spectra. We were doomed. The bow fell behind the swell and the next set picked up the stern and rolled us over. So fast it was unbelievable. The power of those big, ebbing-stacked, twenty-footers is incredible.

"A few minutes earlier I asked one of the crew to get all of the life jackets out of the bags and out of storage. How many of us have stowed-away PFDs? In a 36 foot-LOA, fully-enclosed pilot house would you be wearing them in these conditions? I thought so too. READ THIS CAREFULLY OR YOU WILL DROWN! We had all the PFDs next to each of us as we went in. I had a self-inflating C02 PFD snapped on as I stood at the helm.

"When the boat rolled over, the cabin door slammed shut. The water pressure from outside held it shut. Bo Palmer wedged his arm in the closing-door first, but as we all tumbled, he lost his footing and it slammed. He thought this sealed it for us. We were dead Somehow with the help of adrenalin, courage, help from GOD, and the assistance of Jared at the other end, he pried the door open till it clicked into the auto-latch OPEN!

"The water rushed in filling the dark, upside-down pilothouse in five seconds. The five crew who were NOT WEARING PFDs were ABLE to swim down through the doorway, out into the cockpit, and out from under the boat. Those crew NOT WEARING PFDS! Crazy huh? Had they put the jackets on, instead of holding them, THEY WOULD HAVE BEEN PINNED AGAINST THE UPSIDE-DOWN HULL AND DROWNED! AGAIN, read this part carefully OR YOU MAY DROWN! CARRY A KNIFE. OR TWO. CLIPPED ON YOUR PFD OR BELT OR BOTH. My auto-inflator, did its job, and floated me to the underside of the cabin floor I watched all five crew members swim out the door, and I was pinned to the cabin floor by my inflated PFD, with about eight inches of air above my neck. There was so much pressure around my fat head and under my arms, that it was impossible to unbuckle the vest. My mind raced, and I realized my Spiderco stainless knife was clipped to my pocket. I grabbed it, popped both cells of my PFD, took one last breath from the air-pocket, and swam down out the door, around the bait tank, and up the side of the over-turned gunnel.

"I remember screaming for a head count was first. Two were on the hull bottom two more were holding onto the anchor pulpit. One was swimming toward the end of the jetty, and I held onto the prop and skeg THEN the next monster-breaker blew us away from the boat like we were feathers. I was able to make it back between sets. Bo made it to the other inverted motor. My son Steven was twenty yards down swell, in water-proof pants and tight extra-tuff boots. ANOTHER LESSON--Get your boots off FAST! Do NOT wear any WATER TIGHT CLOTHING! You will DROWN! He is young, athletic, and in shape but he was barely able to keep himself afloat for the 15 to 20 minutes it took for the rescue boat to arrive. He was barely conscious, and on his last couple of breaths when the rescue swimmer got to him. He did not regain consciousness until he was in the ambulance on the way to the hospital--he coughed out tons of saltwater. GET YOUR BOOTS OFF AND BUY THEM ONE-SIZE TOO BIG!

"Jared made it out with a PFD He was okay. Feller made it to the Jetty. Kerry was aware enough to get out of her boots and sweatshirt, and swim to the rocks. She was exhausted, but alive. Bo and I were dragged into the little Whaler after Steven as the best trained, most heroic SD Lifeguard rescue swimmers I have ever witnessed saved our lives. THESE GUYS ARE HEROES!

"The lessons here are many. It is my hope that you will read, and re-read these scenarios and play it out in your mind to stay alive when something like this runs up on you.

"The boat did what it was supposed to. It floated. We crippled it, then asked it to do what it couldn't, but it floated like it was built-to until help arrived. We lost the tower to the bottom, the rest of the boat is totaled. Who cares? We're alive."

posted 11-30-2009 09:03 AM ET (US)            

"GET YOUR BOOTS OFF AND BUY THEM ONE-SIZE TOO BIG!"

posted 12-02-2009 12:31 PM ET (US)            

That really depends on where you fish and the water temperature/sea conditions. There are very few items of footwear that can keep your feet dry in drenching spray and wet decks like rubber boots. The professionals in Alaska wear 'em.

The advise about buying them "large" is sound.

When we were young and "graduating" to Dad's permission to go out on Lake Huron in the boat alone, we had to pass a series of progressively more difficult boat skills and survival/ability tests as our range was widened. To get onto the open water of Lake Huron, among other things, we were basically thrown overboard wearing "typical gear" - boots, foulies and PFD. It really taught a first-hand lesson on how to manage the situation.

Incidentally, how many of you actually USE your PFD once a season - just to see how your body handles the awkwardness? My annual safety gear field test usually occurs on a 90 degree day in August near a sandy beach - but I actually jump overboard once a season with my PFD on - to make sure it still floats my growing girth, and to make sure I'm still cognizant of how difficult it is to re-board the boat and maneuver in the water wearing it.

posted 12-02-2009 10:09 PM ET (US)            

That said, having boots on makes it very hard to kick effectively. I don't know if it is because it is hard to point your toes, or what. But kicks with boots on aren't all that effective.

Back in the day, the summer camp I went to in Northern Wisconsin had a test to see if you could go on a canoe camping trip and be exempt from having to wear a life jacket (those orange horse collars). You had to "swim the point" - swim from the camp to a point 1/4 mile away and back, dressed in Jeans, a sweatshirt and hiking boots.