On Friday, September 8, 2023, my husband Tom, son Tyler and two friends left Cedar Key, FL at approximately 6 am on an overnight fishing trip to the Middle Grounds. (The Middle Grounds is located between 80-100 miles west of the Florida Gulf coast and spans hundreds of square miles.)

The weather was perfect on the way out: blue skies and flat seas and the guys were anticipating a great trip. Reaching the 90 mile mark, they could see an unexpected storm approaching.

As the storm hit, they bounced around weathering the 4-6 foot waves.  It was then that they noticed their cat boat was taking on water.  As they began pumping and bailing the water out of the boat, several large waves crashed over the stern, shutting down one of their motors.  The guys began sending mayday calls over the radio and started heading toward land on their single motor continually pumping and bailing.  Receiving no response to their Mayday calls, they set off a distress call on their EPIRB (Emergency Position Indicating Radio Beacon).  The Coast Guard received the distress signal and phoned me (their contact person) to verify the call as an actual emergency.

After confirming it as a true distress call, the Coast Guard attempted to send a helicopter, but was unable to, due to severe weather.  When the weather did not clear as expected, a Coast Guard plane was sent from Mobile, Alabama to assess the situation.

Several hours later the weather cleared enough and a straight-wing plane and helicopter were dispatched out to assist the vessel.   The helicopter reached them and they continued to slowly make progress towards shore communicating by radio until water in the boat shorted out their electrical system including their radio and pumps.  The Coast Guard then dropped a hand held radio to them and continued guiding them to shore.

They continued making way on 1 motor as they constantly bailed working to keep the boat moving and afloat.  After several more hours, the Coast Guard dispatched a 47-foot cutter to escort or tow them in, if needed.  Once reaching the sinking vessel, (51 miles from shore) the Coast Guard instructed the captain to stop and attempted to put a pump on the sinking vessel. However, the vessel which had taken on too much water capsized and sank within minutes.

After nearly 10 hours working to get the boat safely to shore the 4 men were pulled from the water onto the US Coast Guard cutter boat. Unfortunately, during this rescue their EPIRB was knocked off and floated away (thankfully, it had done its job).

Thanks to their EPIRB there was a Coast Guard rescue team and all four men were taken safely back to the Sand Key Coast Guard Station in Clearwater, Florida.