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Fishing expert on capsized boat: 'There is no way I'd get on this.'

By Matthias Gafni | Contra Costa Times
07/08/2011 10:53:33 PM PDT

After viewing video of the 105-foot fishing boat that capsized Sunday in the Sea of Cortez, veteran Baja California charter fisherman Scott Hill said it should never have set sail.

"I've been on boats all over the world, big ones, small ones, you name it," said Hill, of San Rafael-based Western Boat & Tackle. "There is no way I'd get on this.

"That boat was so top-heavy it's just unbelievable," the charter fishing veteran said after viewing video of the Erik and discussing it with colleagues.

The last three survivors of the ill-fated fishing trip -- East Bay brothers -- and the remains of the one confirmed fatality were headed back Friday.

Sixteen other survivors returned Thursday to Northern California by car and bus, while Mexican and U.S. search teams continued flying over vast sea and land areas near San Felipe, Mexico, looking for seven missing fishermen.

The Wong brothers -- Glen, 57, of Alameda; Craig, 47, of Walnut Creek; and Gary, 58, of Berkeley -- crossed the Mexican border about noon Friday, along with the son of deceased Ceres resident Leslie Yee, who brought his father's cremated ashes with him. The Wongs' brother Brian Wong, 54, of Berkeley, is still missing.

A Mexican government official said air searches for the missing men will continue indefinitely, and they requested a Navy dive team from Hawaii to search the submerged Erik on Sunday.

Hill, who leads fishing trips to Baja and spends 300 days a year on the water, called the Erik a "garbage scow."

He noted three rows of skiffs stacked three high on the ship's deck, air conditioning units on the roof that normally are stored in the engine room and a steel facade on the upper two levels that all contribute to the boat's top-heaviness.

The Erik was likely a converted "dragger," Hill said, a narrow vessel that tows fishing nets with a shallow draft, which would also make it unstable.

More strict American sailing requirements would have prohibited such a boat, he said.

A Mexican official involved in the search effort said the Erik was seaworthy and had been on thousands of trips.

"It wasn't the boat's first voyage. It has been on many, many trips. No one said it was a bad boat," said Alfedo Escobedo Ortiz, Baja California state civil protection director.

Witnesses described a sudden electrical storm, likely a monsoon, that caused high winds and large swells that capsized the boat, Ortiz said.

"It was very bad weather. There was a lot of strong wind coming on from a very high altitude," he said.

Cary Hanson, 68, a survivor from Novato, said the sea got rough early Sunday after the fishermen went to sleep.

"The weather started to pick up, and we started to get hammered pretty hard," he said.

He surmised the rough seas that created waves as high as 15 feet flooded holding areas that had not been secured, as well as the 20-foot Panga fishing boats that were not covered.

"I went up top and all that weight had submerged the back, the boat was half under water," said Hanson, who emptied an ice chest and jumped into the water with it and swam away about 100 feet.

"I looked back and the boat was straight up in the water," he said, "but the lights were still on. Then there was another sort of burp, the lights went out and the boat, which was straight up, just went straight down into the water and sank.

"We then began calling out to each other in the water, but it was pitch black out and hard to see."

Eventually he linked up with others and they rode out the waves until their rescue. "There were seven of us and three coolers," he said. "Those coolers are like Boston Whalers, they do not sink."

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That thing just looked way too top-heavy the first time I saw it...

The Erick was designed and buit to handel the rough water in its orignal state. but it has some extensive renivations that in the real world would mean she be recertified. I seriously doubt that any of the changes had a engineering stamp on them.They say there was an adition to the back deck in width and length. it appeared this adition was to deck only not the hull if this was true it would have a sever handling effect. anyone who has had any boating experince knows what happens when you over load a boat in the rear.

Originally Posted by J.P.

...anyone who has had any boating experince knows what happens when you over load a boat in the rear.

Hemorrhoids???