Top Stories From Homer, Alaska

"I glanced over to shore and thought, 'We're dead.' There was no chance of us swimming to that shore. We were pretty much in the middle of the bay," Skorecki said. "It's not that I just thought we were dead; I was certain we were dead. I was thinking that the boat would keep going down and we'd basically lose consciousness in 20-30 minutes and be dead in an hour."

However, built-in flotation managed to keep the overturned boat's bow above the water's surface and offered enough buoyancy for the foursome, all wearing lifejackets at the time of the capsizing, to pull themselves and the dog mostly out of the water.

That gave Skorecki hope that, rather than a half hour, they could stretch their survival out several hours.

Taking stock of their situation, they knew the tide was going out, which would carry them closer to the Spit. What they lacked was a way to summon help. Exposure to salt water destroyed the group's cell phones. A marine radio also quit working. The frigid water made it impossible to retrieve a cell phone in a dry bag trapped under the boat, as well as a container of flares under the hull.

"I remember there was an orange container full of flares, but as the boat was flipping over that's one of those things I'm disappointed in myself about I should have thought to grab the can, but all I thought was that we weren't going to make it to shore," Skorecki said.

Using the metal faceplate of a cell phone and knife blade, the four attempted to signal for help. Their hopes soared when they thought their signal had been sighted, but despair set in when they realized the light they were seeing was not a response, but a flashing light atop the Salty Dawg. They also blew whistles in the hope of attracting attention, but eventually realized that was a useless expense of energy.

In an attempt to minimize exposure to the cold water, Skorecki, Mumm, Cheatwood and Sieling took turns kneeling on the upturned bow with one of the three standing for short periods of time.

"If we sat, our butts were constantly wet. If we were kneeling, for half the time we were out of the water," Skorecki said.

Meanwhile, charter operator Kent Haina, owner of Poi Boy Fishing, was taking his 32-foot Bayweld for a shakedown cruise. With him were his wife, Kari, and his 9-year-old stepdaughter, Kira.

"We putted out of the harbor, trying to decide whether to go to the right or up the bay. It looked smoother up in the bay, so we went that way. It was just sheer luck," Haina said.

As he put his boat through a pre-fishing season evaluation, Haina noticed in the distance what appeared to be a low profile boat possibly an inflatable with people fishing.

"I cross-checked their position with my GPS and they were right on top of one of my fishing holes," Haina said.

When some floating debris appeared, Haina, his wife and stepdaughter began to sense that the people they spotted were in distress.

"We got closer and, lo and behold, I was pretty horrified at what I saw four people clinging to an overturned boat," Haina said. "When I recognized it for what it was, it put chills on my spine."

Immediately alerting the Coast Guard of the situation, Haina, his wife and stepdaughter helped the four individuals and the dog aboard Haina's boat. By then, it had been three hours since the johnboat had capsized.

Marking the overturned vessel with a buoy so it could later be retrieved, Haina transported the very cold, but otherwise OK Skorecki, Mumm, Cheatwood and Sieling back to the Homer.

More than a week later, the near-tragedy still shakes Haina, reminding him of the importance of safety systems.

"I've spoken to three of them since the incident and told them I don't know if they believe in God, Maroni, Darwin or fate, but something put the seven of us in that same spot on this planet at the same time. I don't know what the reason is and may never know, but basically it was not their time to go or we'd not have been there," Haina said.

Having served eight years in the military and 17 years flying for American Airlines "managing chaos," Haina recognizes the need for safety equipment. He has three VHF radios and an equal number of GPS on his boat. He also is a firm believer in the need to have signaling devices at hand, especially floating smoke signals.

"I never realized how important a day signal was until that incident," he said.

As commercial pilot, Skorecki said there are precautions he always takes before flying.

"What upset me is that I didn't apply those same rules to myself for a boat trip," he said, using a float plan as an example. Although he and his friends filed one with the harbormaster, they didn't take time to call before leaving Bear Cove.

"There's no reason why we didn't call and say we were leaving and would be there in 45 minutes, or call any of our friends and say if we hadn't called within an hour something was wrong," he said. "That would have made a three-hour ordeal maybe a half hour."

Skorecki also is acutely aware of the need to have safety equipment, such as signaling devices, secured in a vest or jacket pocket.

"We had all those flares, but they flipped over with the boat and were totally useless to us," he said.

The suddenness with which the capsizing happened has left the deepest impression.

"I've had three near-death experiences. The other two were rock-climbing experiences that developed over a number of hours. This one went in five seconds from having a good time to all of a sudden the boat was sinking. In 30 seconds, it went from being fun to thinking we were dead and our bodies would be found on the beach," he (name) said.

McKibben Jackinsky can be reached at mckibben.jackinsky@homernews.com.

SIDEBAR

Safety equipment a must for outdoor activities

By McKibben Jackinsky

Staff writer

Five out of six Alaska boating fatalities are due to capsizing or falling overboard, according to Jeff Johnson, the head of the Alaska Office of Boating Safety.

"We tell people it's not enough to have signals in the boat. You should have signals on your person, some way to get attention," Johnson said.

Three types of flares available are orange smoke flares, hand-held flares and parachute flares, according to Lt. j.g. Tim Boettner, stationed aboard the USCGC Hickory.

"The only time you'll ever see orange smoke on water is when someone needs help," Boettner said. "They are no doubt a signal to anyone within sight of that smoke that you need help."

While smoke flares work during the day, the blinding brilliance of hand-held flares and parachute flares are well suited for night use.

"Every mariner knows that flames mean there's a problem and that someone needs assistance," Boettner said.

Teresa Bennett, Kachemak Gear Shed's flare expert, said boating safety kits are available in different configurations and meet different requirements. The 12-guage kit complete with a couple of flares, a couple of smoke signals, a mirror and a distress flag costs about $38.

Safety precautions aren't just for mariners, Bennett reminds.

"I hike in the backcountry a lot alone, and I really do go with a pack of pocket rockets, a mirror and a whistle," she said. "I never travel without those things. Anyone going in the backcountry should be thinking about safety like that."

For more information on safe boating, visit the Web at www.alaskaboatingsafety.org.

"There are different requirements that boaters need to have on board," Boettner said. "If people aren't sure, they should call the Coast Guard Auxiliary and get a courtesy exam of their boat done."

To schedule a courtesy vessel safety exam, call Auxiliarist Tom Youngblood at 226-2149 or 299-3729, or request an exam at www.vesselsafetycheck.org.