thoward
Legendary Member
- Joined
- Aug 14, 2006
- Messages
- 1,687
- Status
- OWNER - I own a Hatteras Yacht
- Hatteras Model
- 52' CONVERTIBLE (1983 - 1990)
BOCA RATON—
One imperative kept two men stranded at sea in a tiny dinghy alive: Keep moving.
"It's like those survivor stories," recounted Mike Ayres. "Don't stop. If you stop, you're done."
It took three days, but they finally made it, landing ashore on a Boca Raton beach about 6:20 a.m. Tuesday, roughly 30 hours after leaving Islamorada in the Florida Keys on a much bigger boat Saturday afternoon.
Ayres, 46, an Islamorada snowbird who lives near Detroit, and Steffon Moore, 19, of Miami Gardens, a hired deckhand, were making the 85-nautical-mile trip to Bimini in the Bahamas to pick up a dive tank compressor.
But about five hours into their passage, the quick trip turned into a life-or-death journey.
Their 41-foot Hatteras, Lady Rosalee, capsized and sank in heavy seas 12 miles south of Gun Cay in the Bahamas, authorities said.
The Coast Guard never was notified of the sinking, so no search was launched, Petty Officer Sabrina Elgammal said.
Interviewed bedside in Boca Raton Regional Hospital, where he was recovering from hypothermia and dehydration, Ayres said he spent a month and a half working on the yacht before the trip.
"It was immaculate," he said. "You could probably go around the world with it, except as we learned you've got to be careful."
Underway at about 5 p.m. Saturday, the men heard a massive thump on the side of the hull.
Ayres, a lumberjack, doesn't know what he hit, but it caused the sea to come rushing into the yacht, in a spot about 1,400 deep.
"We did everything we could to save it," a sunburned and exhausted Ayres said.
They bailed furiously, but soon the boat's batteries flooded, leaving the men without an engine or radio. Preparing for the inevitable, they dropped the dingy into the ocean and loaded it with survival gear — oars, flares, two gallons of fresh water, a bucket of equipment, chocolate chip cookies and crackers.
Then they jumped in and Ayres started to row – for days.
"It was one series of bad events after another," he said.
Running through his mind was the fatal Gulf of Mexico fishing trip that killed Oakland Raiders linebacker Marquis Cooper, free-agent NFL defensive lineman Corey Smith and former University of South Florida player William Bleakley in February 2009, after hypothermia set in.
To fend off the cold, Ayres and Moore tore open their life jackets and wrapped themselves in the filling to maintain their body heat being sapped by the strong winds and 15-foot waves. They began to hallucinate, Ayres said, seeing buildings and animals in the middle of the open ocean.
Yet Ayres kept his bearings, navigating by the stars. Each time he spotted another boat, he fired off flares, a total of 16, but no one spotted them. Hopes of rescue faded – but they kept moving.
"It was like a perfect storm of not being able to get a boat to help us," Ayres said.
By Monday night, Ayres knew they were just 2 miles off Miami Beach, not too far from the Government Cut shipping channel. He said they could see the tantalizing contours of the South Beach skyline with its shimmering hotel lights.
But a powerful wind, apparently the remnants of Tropical Storm Sean, relentlessly pushed them north.
It wasn't until early Tuesday that Ayres could overcome the winds and waves to safely navigate the dinghy westward and to shore.
They finally beached their boat in the 700 block of South Ocean Boulevard. Aboard the small fiberglass Watertender were two life jackets, a life preserver, a fishing pole and a five-gallon bucket.
Ayres' mother, Joyce, reached by phone in Cedarville, Mich., said she was relieved that her son made it. If anyone could have done it, it would be him, she said.
Ever since he was a Boy Scout, she said, he's been a quick, innovative thinker.
"He's very clever. He can be calm and can use his head when he needs to," she said. "He was the one able to build a fire in the pouring rain, rubbing rocks together when no one else could."
Friends, including Delray Beach artist William DeBilzan, described Ayres as a wonderful conversationalist and talented acoustic guitarist. A YouTube video of one of DeBilzan's special events at his gallery this summer shows Ayres singing Bob Dylan's "Knockin' on Heaven's Door."
"He is a pretty incredible guy," DeBilzan said. "If you get to know him, he is a genius, really, a very smart guy."
When you're at sea, you have to be prepared for the unexpected, Mike Ayres said.
"This would have killed a lot of people, and quickly," he said. "I tend to keep my head, and being out in the wide blue ocean, you have to."
Staff Writer Joe Cavaretta contributed to this report.
jjburdi@tribune.com or 561-243-6531
One imperative kept two men stranded at sea in a tiny dinghy alive: Keep moving.
"It's like those survivor stories," recounted Mike Ayres. "Don't stop. If you stop, you're done."
It took three days, but they finally made it, landing ashore on a Boca Raton beach about 6:20 a.m. Tuesday, roughly 30 hours after leaving Islamorada in the Florida Keys on a much bigger boat Saturday afternoon.
Ayres, 46, an Islamorada snowbird who lives near Detroit, and Steffon Moore, 19, of Miami Gardens, a hired deckhand, were making the 85-nautical-mile trip to Bimini in the Bahamas to pick up a dive tank compressor.
But about five hours into their passage, the quick trip turned into a life-or-death journey.
Their 41-foot Hatteras, Lady Rosalee, capsized and sank in heavy seas 12 miles south of Gun Cay in the Bahamas, authorities said.
The Coast Guard never was notified of the sinking, so no search was launched, Petty Officer Sabrina Elgammal said.
Interviewed bedside in Boca Raton Regional Hospital, where he was recovering from hypothermia and dehydration, Ayres said he spent a month and a half working on the yacht before the trip.
"It was immaculate," he said. "You could probably go around the world with it, except as we learned you've got to be careful."
Underway at about 5 p.m. Saturday, the men heard a massive thump on the side of the hull.
Ayres, a lumberjack, doesn't know what he hit, but it caused the sea to come rushing into the yacht, in a spot about 1,400 deep.
"We did everything we could to save it," a sunburned and exhausted Ayres said.
They bailed furiously, but soon the boat's batteries flooded, leaving the men without an engine or radio. Preparing for the inevitable, they dropped the dingy into the ocean and loaded it with survival gear — oars, flares, two gallons of fresh water, a bucket of equipment, chocolate chip cookies and crackers.
Then they jumped in and Ayres started to row – for days.
"It was one series of bad events after another," he said.
Running through his mind was the fatal Gulf of Mexico fishing trip that killed Oakland Raiders linebacker Marquis Cooper, free-agent NFL defensive lineman Corey Smith and former University of South Florida player William Bleakley in February 2009, after hypothermia set in.
To fend off the cold, Ayres and Moore tore open their life jackets and wrapped themselves in the filling to maintain their body heat being sapped by the strong winds and 15-foot waves. They began to hallucinate, Ayres said, seeing buildings and animals in the middle of the open ocean.
Yet Ayres kept his bearings, navigating by the stars. Each time he spotted another boat, he fired off flares, a total of 16, but no one spotted them. Hopes of rescue faded – but they kept moving.
"It was like a perfect storm of not being able to get a boat to help us," Ayres said.
By Monday night, Ayres knew they were just 2 miles off Miami Beach, not too far from the Government Cut shipping channel. He said they could see the tantalizing contours of the South Beach skyline with its shimmering hotel lights.
But a powerful wind, apparently the remnants of Tropical Storm Sean, relentlessly pushed them north.
It wasn't until early Tuesday that Ayres could overcome the winds and waves to safely navigate the dinghy westward and to shore.
They finally beached their boat in the 700 block of South Ocean Boulevard. Aboard the small fiberglass Watertender were two life jackets, a life preserver, a fishing pole and a five-gallon bucket.
Ayres' mother, Joyce, reached by phone in Cedarville, Mich., said she was relieved that her son made it. If anyone could have done it, it would be him, she said.
Ever since he was a Boy Scout, she said, he's been a quick, innovative thinker.
"He's very clever. He can be calm and can use his head when he needs to," she said. "He was the one able to build a fire in the pouring rain, rubbing rocks together when no one else could."
Friends, including Delray Beach artist William DeBilzan, described Ayres as a wonderful conversationalist and talented acoustic guitarist. A YouTube video of one of DeBilzan's special events at his gallery this summer shows Ayres singing Bob Dylan's "Knockin' on Heaven's Door."
"He is a pretty incredible guy," DeBilzan said. "If you get to know him, he is a genius, really, a very smart guy."
When you're at sea, you have to be prepared for the unexpected, Mike Ayres said.
"This would have killed a lot of people, and quickly," he said. "I tend to keep my head, and being out in the wide blue ocean, you have to."
Staff Writer Joe Cavaretta contributed to this report.
jjburdi@tribune.com or 561-243-6531
