BULLETIN Eight Now Believed Dead: Original: One Dead Many Others Still Missing, Fishing Boat Capsizes South of San Felipe

BAJA Racing NEWS.com By Michael Martinez Last Update July 27, 2011 Los Angeles (CNN) -- More than three weeks after seven California men went missing when the fishing vessel Erik sank in Mexico's Sea of Cortez, the families of the missing Americans are expressing anger with the U.S. and Mexican governments for not conducting a dive to find the sunken boat -- and possibly the bodies entombed beneath the sea. The sinking of the 115-foot sport fishing boat during a predawn storm on July 3 captured widespread attention because the 27 passengers were nearly all friends and acquaintances who fished on the Erik as an annual outing, some for as long as 15 years or so. All were from northern California, relatives said. Only five of them were first-timers on a five-night trip aboard the Erik, during which the sportsmen would venture deep into the sea aboard smaller pangas in search of yellowfin tuna and dorado, relatives said. Most of the 27 were Asian-American men from the San Francisco Bay area and nearby, relatives said. Those close ties heightened the depth of the tragedy, especially as U.S. and Mexican authorities spent nine days searching the vast expanse of the Sea of Cortez. In addition to the seven missing men, Leslie Yee, 63, died in the incident. Among the survivors, several were rescued from a Mexican beach. One person was rescued from a coastal island. The families have expressed frustration with the investigation. A State Department official said the U.S. Coast Guard and the National Transportation Safety Board are helping Mexican authorities with the probe. Still, the families say they are disturbed that there was apparently no mayday issued during the sinking of the Erik. Also, the boat apparently didn't carry a satellite tracking device that's often deployed when a boat is in distress, relatives say. In their social media and website campaign to attract public attention to their plight, the families have become so exasperated with the two governments' apparent reluctance to conduct a dive 200 feet beneath the sea that they are trying to raise money to execute a privately funded dive -- if they can raise enough funds on their "Find Our Fathers" website and if the Mexican government will allow the dive. The families are haunted by unanswered questions, their representatives say: Did the 16-member crew abandon ship without trying to help the passengers? Did the vessel have enough life preservers? Why did it take 16 hours before a search and rescue was launched? "We don't want any other families to go through the pain we went through. This should not have happened at all," said May Lee of San Ramon, California. Her husband, Don, 62, an assistant parts manager at General Motors in nearby San Leandro, is among the seven missing. "There's still a little bit of me that's hoping my husband is on some remote little island with some of his buddies," Lee told CNN on Tuesday. But the families have become demoralized. On Sunday, they will gather for the first time since the accident; at a hotel in northern California, Lee said. "Some of them are very depressed, but I'm doing my darnedest to try to bring people together. I'm trying to give them as much hope as possible, to make sure we're hanging on," Lee said. In regular conference calls with the State Department as recently as Friday, the families have asked for the U.S. military to conduct a dive. Most recently, they have pressed U.S. officials to ask the governor of Baja California to fund a dive -- or at least to grant permission for the American families to carry out a private dive. The whereabouts of the sunken Erik are unknown, and the boat could be drifting somewhere on the sea bed, said Lee's daughter, Mandi Lee-Han, a 34-year-old preschool teacher. The boat capsized 60 miles south of San Felipe, Mexico, about two miles offshore, during the first night of the trip. A State Department official said the U.S. Department of Defense doesn't have the capability or equipment to do a deepwater dive and search for the fishing boat -- and it would have to pay for a private contract to do so. The official asked not to be identified, saying he wasn't authorized to speak to the media on the matter. The details of the Coast Guard's and NTSB's joining the Mexican investigation into the Erik are being worked out, the official told CNN Tuesday. "When they were on the call," the official said about the families, "we expressed condolences for the loss of life. Unfortunately, the DOD has limited capability to operate at that depth" beneath the sea in a dive and search. "When a U.S. citizen goes missing in a foreign country, the host government takes the lead in search and recovery efforts, often with the help of U.S. government agencies, such as the U.S. Coast Guard, who have the necessary experience and mandate," the official said. "The Department of State will monitor such efforts and work to ensure that the host government does its utmost to locate the missing person, but lacks the capacity and authority to conduct search and rescue operations." But the families aren't satisfied. "It feels as though the Mexican navy is not really sharing with them what is happening," Lee-Han told CNN. The six other missing men are Russell Bautista of Penngrove, California; Shawn Chaddock of Petaluma, Calif.; Mark Dorland of Twain Harte, California; Gene Leong of Dublin, California; Brian Wong of Berkeley, California; and Albert Mein, 62, a retired AT&T manager, of Twain Harte. Mein was also Don Lee's brother-in-law, said May Lee, who works in the city hall of Fremont, California, overseeing a first-time homebuyer program and housing ordinances. Families have received messages on their Facebook page that local Mexicans have taken the initiative to search coastal islands for the missing seven Americans, posting reports on which islands they've searched. "This grassroot effort is someone knows someone knows someone," said Lee-Han. She said the families are distressed to learn of what they describe as safety shortcomings aboard the Erik. "Had we known there were all these problems in Mexico, we wouldn't have sent my father on this trip. We felt blindsided to some degree," Lee-Han said. "What we're really trying to achieve here is to honor my father and all of the men that deserve to come back to their families," Lee-Han said. The families want the Erik found -- to see what safety problems the vessel may have had, relatives said. "We most certainly don't want to harm the economy in Mexico, but at the same time, we want assurance from Mexico that if something is going to happen, that they're going to be responsible for whatever that may be," Lee-Han said. "If there is an investigation that's going to take place, we would hope that the Mexican government would do a thorough investigation, and that would include a dive." Erik Sinking: Two Survivors Give Their Story Life jackets for crew, but not passengers who said tragedy could have been avoided. PAT MCDONELLPublished: Jul 10, 2011

SAN FELIPE, Baja California Norte -- I have never heard such a story before, nor do I hope to ever heard one like it again, as two survivors of the sportfisher Erik's sinking 60 miles south of San Felipe on Sunday providing gripping details of the July 3 ordeal and tragedy for 44 anglers and crewmen 60 miles south of San Felipe. It is a spellbinding story of survival and unnecessary death and, from where some of the survivors sit, gross negligence on the part of the captain and crew. The worst of all the mistakes was that there were not enough life jackets, just enough for 17 crew members. The only jackets available as the boat was sinking were three or four personal inflatable vests brought by passengers for use on the pangas. If there were more available boat life vests aboard, it mattered little, as they were not given out by the crew, although all 17 crewmen ended up wearing them, two passengers said. Here are the bullet points of what I learned on Friday evening after the surviving anglers returned home to northern California. They are followed by a condensed interview of survivors and Novato, CA residents Gary Hanson and WON subscriber Jerry Garcia. Others were contacted by WON, but could not be reached. Highlights of the interviews: -- There were only 17 life vests available in the melee in which three large waves in 90 mph winds sunk the boat in a matter of five minutes. Only the crew had the Erik's life jackets on. One fisherman told the rest of his group later that a crewman in the minutes before sinking said there were no more life jackets available. All 17 crewmen survived. One of the 27 fishermen died during the swim to shore, and seven more are still missing. -- The captain, in complete defiance of common sense, said one angler, Jerry Garcia of Novato, ran the boat away from the large waves, not directly into them, in a middle of a storm that began at 11:30 p.m. and continued until five minutes after the Erik sank. The result was that at the crescendo of the storm's power at about 2:30 a.m., in 25 to 30-foot seas, three huge waves in 30-foot seas pounded the exposed port side, filled the stern and the 10 pangas stacked and tied to the stern with water. -- As the boat was sinking, anglers told, WON, the captain froze, failed to sound any general alarm and only Americans who were on deck and aware of the flooding of the stern rushed to warn their fellow anglers, many of whom were in their cabins at 2:30 a.m. (At least one of the crew, a cook’s assistant, insisted in an AP interview that they did warn many fishermen in their staterooms). The captain also did not, even after being asked in the wheelhouse by an American if he had done so, send an SOS or mayday to the Mexican Coast Guard. No flares were sent up. There was no EPIRB on the boat. No flares were shot. Two fishermen spent the night in a panga that had broken free from the sinking Erik, with the pair later joined by 11 more at daybreak. The rest of the crew and fishermen were in the water not only through the night but during the day for 12 to 14 hours before being rescued, or reaching the shore three miles away. The result is that one fisherman, Leslie Yee lost his life in the long swim to shore with others, and seven others are missing. The search was reported to have been called off, but Mexican authorities continued their search beyond the normal four days for search and rescue missions. Still, their families hold out hope. At the very least they await a dive team from either the U.S. or Mexico to dive on the Erik that is reported to be in 300 feet of water, The ones who survived, many of whom who live in Northern California, are home now after the ordeal and media circus that produced stories that provided tales of survival and tragedy. Many are outraged and insisted that no one needed to die if basic common sense and basic maritime safety rules of the sea and training were adhered to. Interviewed by WON were survivors Gary Hanson and Jerry Garcia, both of Novato, as were many of the anglers by other media after the ill- fated 6-day annual Fourth of July trip for 27 anglers. Hanson, is a retired highway patrolman who served more than 30 years in the San Francisco area. He retired 10 years ago. He and his wife of 22 years Patty have two sons and 1 daughter. An avid fishermen out of Bodega Bay, it was his second trip on the Erik. “I fished last year in May with the same guys, and again we booked it with Don Lee,” said Hanson said of the chartmaster who is among the missing. “I drove down with Russ Bautista, Dennis Deluca and Jim Miller. We all fish together out of Bodega Bay and Russ was the main man, the leader in our group in all things, really. That Bautista is among the missing is hard to swallow. “You couldn’t get on his boat without putting on one of those personal flotation vests when you got on his boat, and I’m the same way. It was safety first with him.” Hanson said the trip was typical at the start. They drove down together from Northern California as a group and like most of the 26 anglers, spent the night at the El Capitan Hotel in San Felipe. The next morning after breakfast they loaded all the gear into Russ’ pickup and drove to the dock, but the tide was too low. San Felipe tides typically fluctuate 12 feet. The Erik was sitting in the harbor too far below the dock to load gear, so they returned at 1:20 and a higher tide. The departure was delayed as a result of the tide, but Hanson said the group soon eagerly settled into a routine, enjoyed a crew- prepared lunch and relaxed on the top deck. They soon received stateroom assignments and unpacked, and began to set up tackle The boat untied at 2 p.m. and headed south to the Midriff, a group of islands off L.A. Bay known for yellowtail fishing from bare-bones 20-foot pangas that were typically stacked right side up on the stern as they always are for travel on Baja motherships for decades. There were 10 of the pangas, five to a side, stripped down for stacking and travel. The trip was delayed, though. “We got 20 feet from the dock but the federales arrived and demanded the boat return to the dock, so we made a big circle and we assumed it was all about our paperwork, but no one ever asked for our licenses or passports that were required. The man with the clipboard went straight to the wheelhouse and the captain, and 20 minutes later he left. The rumor we heard then was that there was a storm, and the captain had been warned, but that was all it was, a rumor. And that the captain had told the official he’d been through storms before. It also seemed he was upset, and the word was that he told the federal official he was already behind schedule and didn’t to wait. Again, it was all rumor.” That rumor was never substantiated by officials. Hanson said the afternoon and evening hours were relaxing and uneventful as the Erik moved slowly down the coast at 8 knots and business was as usual as they used the time to get out reels and put them on rods. The 20-foot pangas were all off the stern, stacked, and were uncovered. Hanson said they were cushioned by plastic dock bumpers or floats. All normal, Hanson remembers now, but those typically uncovered pangas and float cushions likely contributed to the sinking, anglers on the Erik contend. “The water was like a mirror and at 10 o’clock we were going to bed,” he said. Some rooms topside were accessible on the the port side. He was not sure about rooms or heads on the starboard side. There was also one stateroom for six people accessible through the bridge. Several fishermen were bunked in the below-decks staterooms. The hatch access on the stern had two entries. One was for staterooms for crew and customers, the other side of the hatch entry led down to the engine room, said Hanson. Three of the seven listed as missing were assigned to the port staterooms, recalled Garcia, including the chartermaster Don Lee. At least two of the missing men were assigned to the below-deck staterooms. The stern, Hanson said, went down quickly, and the ship rolled onto its port side. “If they were in there, I don’t think they made it out. But I just don’t know. ” The upper stateroom held Russ Bautista, Pius “Pete” Zuger, Dennis Deluca, Jim Miller and Gary Hanson. “Everyone made it out, including Russell (Bautista) and one of our group saw him out of the stateroom putting his arm through his flotation vest he always had. That was the last anyone saw him, though.” At 11 o’clock as anglers slept as they headed south toward the Enchanted Islands, three miles from shore, the calm conditions changed abruptly. The wind picked as did the seas. It was a quick change, typical of chubascos in the Sea of Cortez that are often deadly for their short-lived violence. “We continued to go through the weather and we were getting hammered, with 20- to 25-foot waves, I’ve been through rough water and we had some last year on the trip, but this was substantial and I had an upset stomach. I had just got back to bed, and we took a big hit and the boat was listing badly and was not coming back.” That was at around 2:30 a.m. He added, “Jim Miller had run up and told us the Erik was sinking and we all got out of the stateroom. We went out of the pilothouse and looked back and 40 feet of the stern of the ship was underwater and the pangas were all full of water.” Hanson said Miller and Jerry Garcia had been watching in chairs at the stern and saw three big waves crash into the port side of the boat. Until the big waves, the Erik was self-bailing. But the bigger waves created bigger problems. They filled the 10 pangas with water, and they dislodged the cushions, and it is Garcia’s opinion the self- bailing properties of the ship disappeared when the cushions floated away from the shifting pangas and plugged the stern scuppers. But Garcia also said the big waves never should have slammed the port side and stern in the first place. Said Garcia, “We were taking waves over the port side and the captain should have had the boat right into the wind and waves, directly into them. We would have been taking hits, but we’d have been okay. But he left the boat open to the big waves. At its worst it was like 90 mph, hurricane winds. Garcia said at first the stern did drain, but the big waves lifted up the two stacks of pangas. The floats under them plugged the holes (scuppers) and this time the stern deck didn’t drain.” The ship was going down. The pangas were filled, the stern awash. And there were reports, not verified, that the fish hold hatch at the stern near the stacked pangas flipped open and seawater filled it, further weighing down the Erik. Garcia said he yelled at a crewman to warn others. Miller had run for the wheelhouse to warn others. Garcia saw what other American fishermen also saw that seemed out of place on the high seas. The entire crew was above deck and were wearing new boat personal flotation devices (PFDs), but were not warning customers, nor were they handing out any PFDs. “They didn’t seem too concerned about us, they were worried about themselves. There was no warning to others.,” said Garcia. As with all accounts of accidents, there were disputes. The Associated Press reported that Alejandro Bermudez, 32, an assistant cook on the boat, said the crew did assist passengers. "The first thing we did was to open the tourists' cabins and shout that they needed to get out," Bermudez said to the AP. "We helped some of them put their life vests on; others already had them on because they were woken up when the boat got on its side." One other angler, Charles Gibson, said in a TV interview when he arrived home, some crew members did attempt to assist. Nevertheless, the steel-hulled 105-foot boat was going under and was severely listing to port and was sinking stern-down. Garcia is in his late 60’s but he was able to get to his nearby storage cooler and grabbed his own personal inflatable vest. A wave hit him and the vest inflated with the moisture, making it harder to put on. He was being helped into it by two men, Richard “Fish Rich” Ciabattari and Mike Kui Min Ng. He had one arm through it and clipped incorrectly when a wave vaulted him into the ocean seconds before the ship sank. Minutes earlier, Hanson said he was in his vest and underwear after the warning by Jim Miller. He was in the wheelhouse and saw the captain. At the time he was the only crewman he saw not wearing a boat life vest. The captain was trying to go to full starboard to stop the listing. “I don’t even know if the engines were running. The captain, he was at the bridge, just standing there at the wheel. I asked him directly, “Did you call the coast guard?’ I know he speaks perfect English. And he said nothing. He was just bug-eyed. “The guys were all up and around by this time. The crew had life vests but there were none for us. I had my PFD in the bunkroom so I had put it on. I was on the port side and water had come up another 10 feet up the stern. I saw a big cooler and dumped it out and threw it over and jumped in after it and swam as far from the ship as could.” The ship, said Hanson, swung over completely, the third level metal pipe framed awning slamming the water just feet from him, hitting the cooler he was hanging onto. “I started swimming away from the ship. I pulled the cartridge line and it went off … and then the ass end of the boat went down, and about 60 percent of the stern was down. I could see little lights on the boat itself. Like, people were trying to do something. Jim (Miller) was up there trying to cut the red rafts loose because they were tied down,” said Hanson. One of the rafts was cut loose and used later by survivors. Within seconds, the Erik stood straight up, and went straight down, taking down anything nearby in the suction, including Garcia who had been vaulted off the boat earlier with his misaligned, inflated personal vest on. He was sucked down, deep. “I was down to my last breathe he told WON. “That life vest is what saved me. It shot me up two feet into the air and I took my first breathe.” How far down was he sucked by the sinking boat? “”I have no idea. I don’t even want to think about it.” All told, said Hanson, the boat took five minutes to sink after the third wave hit, the pangas filled and Miller ran to the wheelhouse stateroom. There were no crew warnings, said Hanson and Garcia. Only crew were issued boat PFDs, said Hanson and Garcia. Debris was all over the water, including a slick of fuel that burned the skin of some, although fortunately much of what floated were the 30 to 40 coolers that are traditionally brought on such Midriff trips by crew and anglers. “All the coolers, plus the water was 85 degrees. That’s what saved us,” said Hanson. The ordeal was just beginning as they grouped up, clinging to coolers, the raft and one of the pangas in the pitch black night. “I was horrified,” said Hanson, “This was just surreal. I kept asking myself if this was really happening. It felt like a dream. I heard people yelling. I saw couple of little flashlights moving around. Everyone saw coolers floating around and grabbed them, and one of the pangas was overturned. Two guys were hanging onto it.” Those two men were Pius Pete Zuger and Joe Beeler. Zuger reported to the Associated Press that the panga was heavily loaded with water. Zuger said they clambered aboard and bailed out the 20-foot boat, which had no engine. At daylight, when people could locate the panga, more were brought aboard. The panga, when found near a remote island, eventually held 13 of the group. Hanson said most of his group were without PFDs and clung to coolers all night. The 17 crewman and 20 fishermen were in various groups, kicking for he shore a remote island three miles away.. Hanson’s group consisted of Dennis Deluuca, Charles Gibson, Glenn Wong, Warren Warren Tsurumoto and two crewmen. Various stories emerged from the ordeal in the water. At night the groups were bigger. At daylight they split up depending on who could team up with better swimmers to reach shore and get help, or they reached the panga containing Zuger and Beeler. “After four hours in the water,” said Hanson, “I fully expected that someone who come, that someone had called for help. Ten hours later in the water I knew nothing had been sent. There had been no communication from the bridge to the crew, No flares, no call for help, no EPIRB, there was nothing, Absolutely nothing.” The Associated Press reported from San Felipe that the captain and crew later said they had no time to send an SOS because the boat sank so quickly. Mexican officials said an investigation will be completed in 10 days. What was ironic was that the seas and wind quickly diminished and 15 minutes later after the sinking, the water was again, like a mirror. Hanson and Deluca kicked together for shore, as did others. The group of 13 in the panga used cooler lids for paddles and reached land first, and Zuger and Beeler walked to a home a mile away owned by a family from Chula Vista. They were given food and clothing and the authorities were called. A helicopter soon arrived and the search and rescue was on. For those in the water, trying to swim to shore, the ordeal took longer. While the warm water kept them alive. The sun beat on them but they made headway in groups. All would have reached shore more quickly but the strong tides and current pushed them away from land. “We’d get within 150 yards to shore and the tide change pushed us back out, Three times. It was heartbreaking. We never got to shore.” What saved many of the men was the arrival of a Mexican panga for one group, and an American Michael Kalicki in a small aluminum skiff. Kalicki’s house on the beach was where Zuger and Beeler ended up earlier. He and his father told survivors they picked up, including Hanson and Deluca, that they had heard of the sinking two hours earlier and started looking for survivors in his small aluminum skiff. Kalicki told them the local village had just gotten the word at 2 p.m. and the rescue was on. It was now 4 p.m. when Hanson and Deluca got into the skiff. It was 4 p.m., 13 ½ hours after they’d entered the water. For one fisherman, it was too late. Garcia said he, Leslie Yee and Mike Kui Min Ng were “on the cooler” together at night. Garcia and Kui Min Ng were rescued by a pangero. “Leslie did not make it,” Garcia said. “I don’t know what happened. I came back to the cooler and Leslie wasn’t there anymore. Garcia added that he owes his life to Kui Min Ng. “Mike saved my life more than once. I was cramping all over in my legs as we paddled, and he was a life saver. He massaged my legs several times. I would not have made it without him.” A panga rescued Garcia and Kui Min Ng. The media circus ensued in San Felipe. There were the attempts by Mexican officials to provide assistance to a group of men who had lost friends, all their identification, tackle and clothing, even keys to cars. The captain of the Erik was reported to have been arrested, which proved false. “Never happened,” said Hanson. “We never heard that. The federales took him, but if he was arrested we never heard that, and I could care less. The important thing is that there is restitution for the guys and what they lost, and the families of those who still hold out hope. The most important thing, said Hanson is that the media and the public and the families know what really happened on that boat. “It was gross negligence. The more you dissect it, the more you see that the crew was not trained in anything. No communication to the crew by the captain, not enough life jackets, no radio call, and no attempt by the crew to wake up the passengers. We just want to keep the pressure on, to find the guys, and to make sure people know what happened on that boat and why it happened.” As for Mexico and how the crisis was handled after the rescue, all Hanson would say was that “there were a lot of idiot officials who didn’t know anything. The only one who knew anything and told us the half truths was the guy at the U.S. Embassy.” Physically, Hanson and Garcia had minor injuries are healing from severe chaffing from the inflatable life vests that saved their lives but wore holes in their skin. And severe sunburns. Garcia said he’s not going to stop fishing, but he’s going to buy another inflatable life vest. “I bought the Mustang model, it was about $180, which I thought at the time were expensive, but now I’m going to buy a $300 version that one has an EPIRB. So that when I go in the water, they will know I’m in the water.” The following were survivors: Charles Gibson, Gary Hanson, Michael Kui Min Ng, Jim Miller, Steven Sloneker, Richard Ciabattari, Lee Ikegami, Gary Wong, Craig Wong, Pius “Pete” Zuger, David Levine, Jerry Garcia, Bruce Marr, Joe Beeler, Robert Higgins, Ross Anderson, Dennis Deluca, Warren Tsurumoto and Glen Wong, Leslie Yee of Ceres, CA was confirmed dead. His body washed up on the shore of a remote island. Those who remain missing are: Russell Bautista, Mark Dorland, Don Lee, Brian Wong, Al Mein, Gene J. Leong and Shawn Chaddock. “I don’t want to say anything that might take away hope from the families that they might still be alive, on a beach somewhere,” said Hanson. “But people need to know what happened on the boat and why it happened. They need to know the truth of what happened on that boat.” For video of Gary Hanson on television, view this link: http://www.ktvu.com/video/28494617/index.html One of the best recounts of the anglers rescue efforts is from the Associated Press athttp://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5iNDSxsb07ONgY5oVt_Q3-6tXZmgg?docId=3e045d46adc24ad48571e95d892fd28c

Original BAJA News Report: July 4, 2011 4:30 AM PT


Update 5 AM PT, July 12, 2011

Executive Summary: “The Erik went down off isla wilard about 1-2 miles off cactus point . One theory is the boat was trying to get into Gonzaga Bar to hide from the wind . If the boat was heading south southeast with a wind coming from the east and tried to turn and enter Gonzaga Bay the boat would have been broad side to the wind and swell . A very bad move with the deck loaded pangas.”

http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/2011/jul/11/rescuers-recount-finding-boat-survivors/

By Ed Zieralski
July 11, 2011

“”The allure and adventure of fishing on a Mexican sport boat in bountiful waters teeming with game fish in the Sea of Cortez has drawn American anglers for more many years, but there have always been risks.

The sinking in a freak summer storm of the Mexican-owned sportfishing boat Erik drove that message home over the Fourth of July weekend. It also gave pause to a couple of Americans who have fished aboard the Erik.

“Yes, it definitely could have been us,” said Ted Heckman, 64, a Scripps Ranch resident who led charters on the Erik for five years in the late 2000s and fished on it as recently as three years ago. “I can’t imagine what went through their minds to wake up at 2:30 in the morning like that and have to get into the water. Some of them were in the water 10 to 12 hours fighting for their lives. It really could have been a lot worse. It was bad enough, but from what I saw a lot of the passengers were older and not in that good a shape.”

Heckman described the Erik as a “rust bucket,” a boat that sometimes felt unsafe.

“Sometimes the hot water went out, or the air conditioning would quit, or the toilets would back up,” he said. “It was infested with cockroaches. Once, a mechanic, who looked to be in his 70s, had to be boated in from San Felipe to fix the boat’s engine. That took two days.”

Baja Sportfishing Inc., which charters the Erik out of San Felipe, could not be reached for comment.

Despite the problems, Heckman said a fishing trip on the Erik was the best angling value in the industry. Long-range trips out of San Diego cost about $300 a day, but he said a six-day trip on the Erik ran less than $200 a day and was always exceptional. Anglers would leave the ship twice each day on smaller boats called pangas to fish in secluded bays or coves.

George Ruble of Fallbrook led a group of 26 Oceanside Senior anglers on a trip aboard the Erik last month. He said he has led charters on the Erik and its sister ship the Andrea Lynn for the past 10 years.

“I’ve fished from Alaska to New Zealand, and there isn’t a better value or better fishing for the money than these trips out of San Felipe,” Ruble said. “I took them $25,000 worth of business this year. If you fish three to a panga, it’s $995. And if you fish two to a panga, it’s $1,395. You get 4½ days of really good fishing.”

Ruble said he never saw a life vest on the boat but did see a life raft in the upper deck this year for the first time. He said some of the anglers brought their own personal flotation devices, but he never did. He also doesn’t remember any talk of safety or what measures would be taken in case of a sinking or even a man overboard.

“I can’t even swim, so I guess I pushed my luck not taking a life preserver,” Ruble said.

Heckman said he remembered the boat being “wobbly” but couldn’t understand how it could have capsized off the Baja California coast.

The Erik, a 115-foot converted shrimp boat, sank early Sunday morning with 43 people aboard. There has been one confirmed fatality with seven U.S. citizens still missing.

“I find it interesting that all the Mexican crewmen got off and the passengers are the only ones missing or dead,” Heckman said. “I know they tended to pile a lot of stuff on the upper deck, and it looked top-heavy to begin with. But they’d add dozens of coolers and then stack the eight pangas up there. That’s a lot of weight.”

Heckman said his past experiences on the Sea of Cortez taught him the water can come up quickly in a storm.

“You learn to watch the distant haze and stay ready,” he said.

Heckman said he never remembered any safety talk at the beginning of his trips.

“I never heard any mention of life jackets and certainly never saw any,” Heckman said. “We got to the point where some of us brought our own life jackets.”

...Heckman said a typical day on the Erik began with a hearty breakfast followed by a morning of fishing from a panga. They’d break for lunch at around 11:30 a.m. and return to the mother ship. They’d eat, take a nap and then go back out around 3:30 p.m. and fish until dark. At night the captain would move the boat to another of the Sea of Cortez’s Midriff Islands for another day of fishing.

Heckman said two years ago he and his group left the Erik and switched to the Tony Reyes Sportfishing operation out of the Longfin Tackle Shop in Orange. He said that operation is much better and that he hasn’t experienced any problems.””

UPDATE July 5, 2011
CLICK HERE FOR VID & STORY


San Felipe, BC Mexico:


UPDATE: 4 PM, 4th of July 2011
Very sad news to report:

Eight U.S. tourists feared drowned in boat capsize

By Lizbeth Diaz

SAN FELIPE, Mexico | Mon Jul 4, 2011 6:23pm EDT

(Reuters) - Eight American vacationers are presumed to have drowned after a sports fishing charter capsized in a storm and sank off Mexico's Baja California peninsula, authorities said on Monday.

The 115-foot (35-meter) boat Erik left San Felipe on the Sea of Cortez, a haven for windsurfers and sports fishermen, on Saturday for a six-day fishing trip with 43 people on board, including 27 American tourists.

But on its first night out of port, the Erik was struck by an electrical storm and capsized early on Sunday, port and navy officials said.

After searching for almost 24 hours, local rescue officials had found one body and said they had given up hope of finding seven missing people alive. Divers had been brought in to aid in the search.

"We have changed the operation, now we're focusing on recovering ... people, but not alive," said Alfredo Escobedo, the director of emergency services in Baja California state.

The confirmed fatality and all the missing were U.S. citizens, San Felipe port official Dora Winkler said.

Mexican authorities said the survivors had been rescued by navy teams and locals after the fishing boat's cook and two passengers were saved by local fishermen, who had raised the initial alarm.

The boat was found around 87 miles south of San Felipe, a popular holiday and fishing resort located south of Mexicali.

Local boat operators cater to American retirees and other tourists who flock to the region for inexpensive salt-water fishing. Loyalists boast a sea teaming with yellowtail, sea bass and cabrilla.

According to an Internet advertisement, the Erik, available for six-day charters from $995 per person, had been operating in the Sea of Cortez since 1989 and slept up to 42 guests.

(Additional reporting by Rachel Uranga and Krista Hughes in Mexico City; Editing Paul Simao)

http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/07/04/us-mexico-boat-idUSTRE76357I20110704?feedType=RSS&feedName=domesticNews






9 AM Update:


The US Coast Guard Chopper that departed San Diego at 5:30 AM, still hasn't reached the sinking site yet. That's because it had to refuel in Arizona. The MH-60 Jayhawk helicopter should be reaching the search site, any moment now.


The 'Erik' has reportedly been plagued by many problems.


Now the one death first reported has been re-confirmed, again. From an earlier report of 11 missing, now there are 8 missing. Seven tourists and one crew member. The rescued are being housed at a local San Felipe hotel.


A more exact sinking location has also been reported as, Punta Bufeo, near Puertecitos, 87 miles south of San Felipe. In a further definition, off of Willard Island at the south end of Gonzaga Bay.


The area is locally known as the 'wind-tunnel', because of the high winds off the local mountains, during westerlies.


The winds associated with this weekends events however, were probably from the east-south east, during the aguacerro season.


This weekend had some wild weather in the northern Sea of Cortez, high tides, high winds and big waves. Search operations were still being delayed by high winds.


6 AM Update:
The one death is now being pulled off the story by Mexican law enforcement in Mexicali. 11 missing are now being reported from authorities here in San Felipe. "Mexican officials are now saying there are no confirmed deaths."


The fishermen on the 'Erick' are now being reported from the San Francisco bay area.


Original Report: A US Coast Guard representative has confirmed to BAJA NEWS, a survivor of the capsized and sunk Mexican fishing vessel, swam ashore at Gonzaga Bay in Baja California, Mexico which alerted the US Coast Guard at 2:30 AM, Sunday, July 3.


The reports were belated because surivors had to swim ashore and hike awhile, before getting word to the proper authorities. Mexican Navy helicopters reportedly are examining the area of the sinking.


The boat that sank was apparently close enough to shore, that survivors swam to shore. Others were rescued by good samaritan vessels that were alerted and in the area.


Gonzaga Bay is some 120 miles south of the port of San Felipe, on the Sea of Cortez side of the thousand mile long peninsula. A helicopter from San Diego California is due to lift off for assisting the Mexican Navy in the search for survivors, at 5:30 this morning. In one hour from now.

27 Americans are reportedly listed as being on the vessel when it departed on its fishing excursion, yesterday. 37 are reported accounted for out of the 44 total people on the fishing boat. 6 are reported still missing, one dead is confirmed, by Mexican sources.


MORE LOADING NOW>>>

2 AM Monday morning Report:

(Reuters) - One person drowned and six were missing after a fishing boat carrying 27 American tourists capsized in a storm and sank off Mexico's Baja California peninsula, authorities said on Monday.

The 115-foot (35 meter) chartered boat left the port of San Felipe on the Sea of Cortez, a haven for windsurfers and sports fishermen, on Saturday but was struck by an electrical storm and capsized early on Sunday, port and navy officials said.

Emergency services officials in San Felipe said 27 of the 44 people on board were U.S. citizens.

The U.S. Coast Guard, which is sending a helicopter to help with the rescue, said one person was dead and authorities were still searching for six others, but had no information on their nationalities.

"(The helicopter) should be there around 0800 (Pacific time) to assist with rescue efforts," Coast Guard official Benny Minton said.

The boat, called the Erik, was found around 87 miles south of San Felipe, a popular holiday and fishing resort located south of Mexicali.

According to an Internet advertisement, the Erik has been operating in the Sea of Cortez since 1989 and can sleep up to 42 guests.

"We are still looking for the rest of the people. The weather is really bad right now, with strong wind," said local port official Felipe Vallecillo.

Vallecillo said weather conditions were normal when the boat set sail on Saturday.