Three guys, a little boat and a rescue
Published: October 16, 2006
They were doing everything right out there, 15 miles offshore.
A morning fishing excursion to the Charleston 60 artificial reef on a beautiful Saturday offered the three men an opportunity to hang out together, enjoy the cool breeze and clear skies. They caught a shark. They hooked a couple of black sea bass.
But after several hours the fishing was slow, so Allen Kunze and his companions decided to fire up the motor on the 27-foot Trophy and head back for shore.
“It was a bit choppy, so we were taking it nice and slow,” Kunze said. They skipped through open water, the sun shining bright overhead.
After a while they noticed the boat was running slower and slower. Something was wrong.
Kunze stopped the motor. He realized the craft was taking on water. But from where? They hadn’t hit anything.
When he tried to crank the motor again, it wouldn’t turn. It sat too deep in the ocean. It was waterlogged.
“We were stuck,” he said.
The boat was taking on water fast and the men were scared. Kunze called for help.
Heath Hackett and Dan Stoll, co-captains of the Seaphoria, were taking the boat’s owner, Dr. Tim Bainum, his daughter and her friends out for a day of deep-sea fishing on a 61-foot Viking when they got the call.
By the time they pulled up to the Trophy, the smaller boat was half-submerged, Hackett said. They stayed about an hour, relaying coordinates to the Coast Guard, and assisting the three men who were forced to jump in the waves and swim for the Viking.
Within minutes of being abandoned, the little boat rolled over.
But the three friends were safe, if wet and a little shaken up.
The Viking turned toward Charleston. The white hull of the Trophy, protruding from the ocean like a lazy whale that has briefly surfaced for sun or air, receded behind the adventurers until it was a splotch, a speck, nothing.
Later, Kunze marveled at the experience. “I’ve been boating for years and years and years,” he said. “This is the first time I’ve had any problems.”
At home he had himself a couple of beers and thought: Tomorrow, I’ll figure out what went wrong. Right now, I’m sure glad to be here.
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