Boat Tossed Like Clothes in a Washer

After a season of late starts, spotty catches and lousy weather, the four-man crew of the Starrigavan was returning to port with more than 5,000 pounds of crab. "We were starving, and we finally got crab" said Sam Johnson, a crew member. "After all this season, we were finally catching crab." "And we were actually going to get paid," added Gregory Phillips. Phillips was called "Green," short for greenhorn, because this was his first season at sea.

It was at about 9 p.m. that the Starrigavan started across the bar. The news media has described it as: “the notoriously dangerous stretch of water at the entrance to the jetties where bay waters meet head-on with the churning ocean. At that place, sand tends to build up, making the area shallow and even more volatile.” In the last 3 years there has been a total of 14 lives lost on that bar. In 2004, the charter fishing boat Taki-Tooo went down there, killing 11. And in February 2006, the commercial fishing vessel Catherine M, floundered while heading in, killing three fishermen. Both of these were deemed operator error in the subsequent investigations.

The U.S. Coast Guard closed the bar to recreational and small vessels on Thursday, due to 11-foot seas and 17-mph winds. But that should not have been a problem for the Starrigavan. "It should have been safe enough for a vessel of that size to get through unless something went wrong on the boat," said Shawn Eggert, a Coast Guard spokesman. "That they closed the bar at all indicates the weather was a little rough."

The first of several 25-foot waves set the boat rocking, Phillips said. Then, as the skipper struggled to right the boat and get back out to safer waters, Johnson saw a second wave coming and yelled for his mates to brace themselves. "I was looking it right in the eye," Johnson said. "It was like it was coming after us."

There was just enough time for Opheim to radio one mayday before the wave hit. "Ever see a wave control a 92-ton vessel?" Phillips asked. "Look inside a washing machine and watch the clothing tumble over and over and over."

The third wave sent the Starrigavan over. It has been said that the vessel rolled three times before the waves slammed it up against the south jetty's rocks. Inside the wheelhouse, it was chaos. "Skinny was pinned," Johnson recalled. "Greg and me pushed him out the door."

On deck the men struggled with their survival suits while the ocean kept them pressed against the deck railing. "Skinny was against the rail trying to put his on, and it just sucked it off of him," Johnson said of the waves. "Mine, I was tied up across my chest, just tangled in this mess of wires."

The men managed to get off the rails and up against the wheelhouse bulkhead, which offered some protection from the seas. But the boat was shattered, and the upper deck was slamming into them, Phillips said.

The Coast Guard arrived by boat within a half hour of the call, but reaching the Starrigavan by water was far too dangerous. Waiting for the rescue helicopter en route from Astoria was all that they could do.

Until he was lowered onto the pitching, nearly vertical deck of the crab boat, U.S. Coast Guard rescue swimmer Rob Emley had never saved anyone. But on Thursday night, the lives of the four men aboard the Starrigavan rested squarely in the hands of the 22-year-old newlywed from Southern California.

The rescue team first lowered a radio to the boat and wanted to lower a basket to the men and have them climb into it themselves, but crew member Kenneth "Skinny" Venard was too badly injured. With a cable attached to the harness he wore, Emley was dropped to the deck, fighting breaking waves and 80 mph winds whipped up by the helicopter rotor.

By then, the men, wearing only shirts and jeans, were suffering from hypothermia, and Venard's condition was deteriorating. Both the crew members and rescue swimmer began working to get Venard into the basket. "I had Skinny by the legs," Johnson said. "The diver had him by the arms. We didn't see the wave coming. It ripped Skinny right out of my hands. He smashed into the other side of the boat. When I saw him again, Skinny was in bad shape. I thought if we could just get Skinny out first, we were all going to make it."

The waves kept pounding the boat, but the rescue swimmer just wouldn't quit. "He took a beating like I've never seen before," Johnson said. "He just wouldn't give up. He kept telling us, 'You guys are going to be OK. I'm here, you are going to make it.' He did an amazing job," said Johnson. "To get on the deck of the boat itself, with those waves beating at us, that was a feat in itself. That took a man with braveness like a lion. I am shocked it was his first save."

Currently the boat is on the south side of the south jetty at the bar entrance, about 500 yards from shore. It sits upright in about 12 feet of water. Divers have checked the boat. While there is some fuel leakage, no environmental impact is feared.

As Johnson recalled the events that claimed his buddy, his voice gave way to emotion. "He was a good spirit, always willing to offer his shirt off his back," Johnson said. "On New Year's Eve, we were on the boat. No one had any money. He spent his last $5 to get me a calling card to call my wife."

Debra Burrus, owner of a boat Venard had worked aboard for 11/2 years says friends in Newport have started a collection for Venard's three children in Colorado. "He was the most awesome kind of guy," she said. "He was the kind of guy who put all his friends first. He gave all and took nothing."

Greenhorn Gregory Phillips wants to go back out fishing. Johnson isn't so sure. "To tell you the truth, at this moment I'm afraid to even step on a dock," Johnson said. "I'm tired of walking by benches and seeing my friend's names on them. I thought I was next. Skinny didn't deserve that. I wish it would have been me."

Stay tuned.

<')))>{