I'm sure the Whaler is floating somewhere. I sell Whalers and I tell all my customers just because it's unsinkable dosen't mean you are. Got to use your head when boating. should wear a mustang vest or something especially 50+ miles out!

Coast Guard finds one man clinging to boat
By Emily Nipps and Brant James, Times Staff Writers
Posted: Mar 02, 2009 09:56 AM


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The missing boaters were on a 21-foot Everglades Center Consoles fishing boat of a make and model similar to the one pictured here.
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12:27: Nick Schuyler is the boater who has been found, according to the cousin of Marquis Cooper, Ray Sanchez, who is at the Clearwater boat ramp where the men were last seen and has been getting updates from family. He was found near Egmont Key alive and clinging to a boat, Sanchez said.

The Coast Guard cutter Tornado found the boat and dispatched a smaller boat to rescue him.

12:10 p.m.: A man has been found clinging to a boat about 30 miles west of the Tampa Bay area, Bay News 9 has reported.

CLEARWATER — The Coast Guard has searched over 16,000 square miles of the Gulf of Mexico and found no sign of four missing boaters or their vessel, a Coast Guard spokeswoman said this morning.

The survival of the boaters — former Tampa Bay Buccaneers Marquis Cooper and Corey Smith and former University of South Florida football players Will Bleakley and Nick Schuyler — is the main question more than 48 hours since they set out on a fishing trip aboard a 21-foot boat. The Coast Guard has several crews still searching the area west of Clearwater Pass.

Clearwater's Seminole Boat Ramp, where the four men departed from early Saturday, was quiet this morning after a day of fret and panic Sunday. The families of the missing boaters were gone after pacing and praying at the site for much of Sunday.

Chris Mayes, 19, whose family owns Jaxson's Bait House near the boat ramp, said it was clear by sundown Sunday that something was wrong.

On Saturday morning people were "itching to get out" on the first day of perfect weekend weather of the new year, Mayes said.

By 6 a.m., all of the boat ramps were booked and people were complaining about the crowded parking lot, Mayes said. But by 2 p.m., boaters were scrambling to get back, spooked by the winds and choppy waters.

At an offshore location about 50 miles west of the Tampa Bay area on Saturday afternoon, waves were in the 4- to 6-foot range and "the winds were around 10 to 15 knots and some gusts up to 20 knots, which still makes it uncomfortable for most boaters," National Weather Service meteorologist Todd Barron said.

But the weather turned awful late Saturday and early Sunday as a front passed through.

"Waves increased from 4 to 6 feet to about 10 to 15," Barron said. By about 7 a.m. Sunday the offshore winds "increased to 30 to 40 knots."

By sundown Saturday, the ramp parking lot was empty except for a lone GMC truck, belonging to Cooper. That's the truck the missing four boaters arrived in. A one-day parking pass was still on the windshield.

Coast Guard spokeswoman Sondra-Kay Kneen said the search will carry on throughout the day, and she could not say if and when the search would end. Vessels and planes searching the gulf have covered 16,000 square miles, she said. The search area stretches from Cedar Key in Levy County to Boca Grande in Lee County.

Word of the men's disappearance spread quickly throughout the Tampa Bay area, and especially among those who regularly frequent the same waters.

Mike Miller owns a diving charter business and was also out in the gulf the on Saturday. He wondered how the men could have stayed in the water, knowing Saturday's weather forecast of strong winds from the arriving cold front.

"Anything over 10 knots, that's really dicey," Miller said. "The forecast Friday night I saw said 10 to 20 knots, 4- to 6-foot seas. So if just one of those four guys would have read the report, they would have said, 'We're not going 50 miles offshore in a 20-foot boat.' "

Meanwhile, friends and family of the four men are awaiting updates.

Bleakley, 25, grew up in Citrus County and played football at Crystal River High School. The school's faculty members are being kept abreast of the situation via e-mail and hoping for good news.

"Everyone is sitting back and waiting for good news," athletic director Tony Stukes said. "Obviously, there is concern for Will's safety, and concern for his family. It's a tight-knit community."

Bleakley, a 2002 graduate, was a standout baseball and football player. As a senior, he helped lead the school to the state baseball final four, which was played at Tampa's Legends Field.

Bleakley's parents are well known in the community and are part of the chain crew at Crystal River home football games, Stukes said.

Bleakley and 24-year-old Schuyler live in Tampa. Cooper, who turns 27 next week, is a linebacker with the Oakland Raiders, and 29-year-old Smith is a free agent defensive end who most recently played for the Detroit Lions. Both Cooper and Smith own homes in the Tampa Bay area.

Cooper owns the boat the men left on Saturday, and friends and family described him as an experienced boater who had life jackets and flares onboard.

The Lions and Raiders teams each released statements expressing concern for all of the boat's passengers.

"We are closely monitoring the situation and are in the process of gathering more information," a press release from the Raiders said. "Our thoughts and prayers go out to the passengers, their families and those involved in the search efforts."

The temperature in the gulf was in the mid 50s early this morning, according to the National Weather Service.

Staff writers Keith Niebuhr and Curtis Krueger contributed to this report. Emily Nipps can be reached at [email protected] and (727) 893-8452.



[Last modified: Mar 02, 2009 12:35 PM]




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Comments on this articleby nick Mar 02, 2009 12:32 PM
No, there are no islands to speak of. But all of these guys look like they are in good shape. If they were not drinking, they would have the endurance to last quite some time with floatation devices until they are seen. Keep them in our prayers.
by MIke Mar 02, 2009 12:30 PM
No ther are no Islands off Cleawater. 50 miles offshore is dicey for 30ft plus boats in the kind of Weather that was forecast. They are most likley dead already but Ill give them one xtra day since they are athletes. 10-12 will swamp a 21' with 1 wav
by pg Mar 02, 2009 12:29 PM
dee, really?? that is not a flats boat, get your facts straight, and no there aren't any islands out in the Gulf, it is all open water....
by steve Mar 02, 2009 12:29 PM
Mike, fifty miles offshore is out of sight of land and probably out of VHF radio range too. No islands out there. Only an inexperienced boater would be out there last weekend. The boat will be found, sooner or later. The men?who knows? Pray for them.
by Buck Mar 02, 2009 12:19 PM
a 21'cc is a smallish boat, but def not a flats boat. Something major would have to go wrong. That's a tough little boat and hard to sink.
by Concerned Citizen Mar 02, 2009 12:18 PM
Thank you, Coast Guard, for the wonderful job you are doing. I hope the missing boaters come home safely.
by Capt Bob Mar 02, 2009 12:17 PM
No one should take a small craft offshore more than a few miles unless they are equipt with an EPIRB; redundant radios; redundant compass; and, offshore life jackets. Weather info is available from many sources including some very detailed websites.
by Alan Mar 02, 2009 12:16 PM
The 21' Everglades has a V-hull, so it is not a flats boat. OTOH, it's best suited for near-shore coastal waters, within VHF-radio range. Does Cooper's boat carry a VHF? An EPIRB would be just as good - both cheap investments.
by Alan Mar 02, 2009 12:14 PM
The 21' Everglades has a V-hull, so it is not a flats boat. OTOH, it's best suited for near-shore coastal waters, within VHF-radio range. Does Cooper's boat carry a VHF?
by Anti-Mike Mar 02, 2009 12:13 PM
Yeah, there is, right next to the post office in the middle of the gulf where the fishermen send their wives mail.
by Travis McGee Mar 02, 2009 12:05 PM
Mike: There are no islands in that part of the Gulf beyond the barrier sandspits that form the beaches. Conditions can get hairy pretty fast, out there. I assume that these guys didn't check the marine weather forecast.
by UNCONSTITUTIONAL Mar 02, 2009 11:49 AM
My heart oes out to their families. That boat is way too sall to be in the ocean. You should have a gps and VHF radio for help maybee even a loran ? This is senceless. All this oney and manpower because they were ill equiped, very sad.
by P Mar 02, 2009 11:48 AM
dee, really?? that is not a flats boat, get your facts straight and no there aren't any islands out in the gulf, it's all open water.......
by chet Mar 02, 2009 11:46 AM
We have a hurricane warning system. Maybe the Coast Guard should have a warning system for small boats traveling offshore.
by bev Mar 02, 2009 11:40 AM
I really believe they will be found. I think they are safe and somehow has lost their directions. I am Praying that the searches receive a strong instinct within and this will help lead them to where they are.
by Mike Mar 02, 2009 11:16 AM
I'm scared for these guys. I'm not a boater, and I don't really fish either. Can anyone tell me if there are any islands or something that these guys could have went to to ride out the weather? Is there anything like that in the area they were in??
by Reeves Mar 02, 2009 11:09 AM
Sending the 'blessed' vibe...please be found and well.
by M Mar 02, 2009 10:41 AM
We're all praying for their safety.
by dee Mar 02, 2009 10:07 AM
Reports are that this group was on a 21' Everglades CC...a flats boat! These guys may have been avid fishermen, but they weren't experienced. No on with experience takes a flats boat 50 miles out with small craft advisories up. Wish them luck.
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They just found a boat floating off the coast of st.pete about 30 miles with one person clinging to it. Coast Guard is not sure if its the boat yet. I have been out in my 23 about 20 miles offshore and in 4-6 foot rollers and its bad, REAL bad. It was choppy on the way out and then it just crept up on me, funny thing is, by the time I got back to the closest shoreline, it was dead calm. Like glass, so we headed back out and had a decent day. Weirdest day I have ever had out there.

They found Nick on that boat. It was anchored when the boat flipped over. He was wearing a life jacket and is in good shape. He said the others got seperated when the boat turned over and he never saw them again

Who the hell drops anchor in seas like that ?? That was a BIG mistake....maybe they ran out of gas ? Glad they found one, hope they find the others....Certainly seems like the CG has devoted a lot of assets to the search effort.

That's because it's two NFL players... If it were you or me.. They would be home eating dinner right about now.. working 8am - 4pm... just my.02 but Really???

Perhaps....but if it were me I would have checked sea conditions/forecast, not taken a 21' dingy 50 miles offshore much less droped anchor in heavy conditions. I fell bad for them....but not that bad.

No the NFL guys don't get the all out search, now if it was some cops missing they would drain the gulf to find them. Last year a cop doing some training went missing in the Potomac River and you would have thought a UFO crashed they had CG cutters and over 700 people for days looking for him. The cutters couldnt even get into the place where they saw him last but they were still there. We lost a friend in the same place two years before and maybe 10-20 LEO guys kinda looked for him, lost a guy on the bay no real effort by LEO to find him till it was to late. EVERYBODY should get the same all or nothing.

It's very upsetting anytime we lose human life whether they are superstars or not. I am praying for them and thier families. If it were you I would also pray for you and not talk about how stupid or irresponsible it was to go out. Human life is human life and you should not be so caught up on them being superstars with money. That does not change the fact they are still missing and thier families are waiting for a miracle and we should all pray for them. God Bless

Kind of like your DUMB post. :rolleyes: Pretty tasteless....