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Tarpon Crew Survives Ike's Wrath

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By KRISTA KLAUS News Channel 8

The Tampa Tribune

Published: September 13, 2008

Five Tarpon Springs fishermen were relieved to get to dry land Friday morning after taking a beating from Hurricane Ike.

The monster storm caught up with Kris Geidel and his crew Wednesday as they made their way back to the Tampa Bay area from a three-week commercial fishing trip. Pete's Dream, a 63-foot fishing boat, was about 100 miles north of the west end of Cuba when the craft was surrounded by high waves and wind.

"The rain was just coming from every direction, and the waves were breaking," Geidel said. "The wind must have been 100 miles an hour."

Ike was expected to make landfall in Texas early today.

Geidel, a 25-year commercial fishing veteran, said he was trying to get ahead of Ike when he found himself caught up in the Gulf Stream. The rough conditions slowed the boat down to 2 knots, rather than the usual 6 or 7.

"We just didn't get far enough ahead, and it just kept getting rougher and rougher," Geidel said.

Before they knew it, Geidel and his crew were fighting for survival.

Crew member Mike Westfall said two huge waves hit the boat. The first wave took out windows in the wheelhouse, while a second that Westfall described as about 40 feet high destroyed the boat's starboard side. The waves also broke the vessel's pump.

The men bailed out water in 5-gallon buckets to stay afloat before the U.S. Coast Guard arrived with a temporary pump. The crew arrived back in the Bay area about 11 a.m. Friday.

"This is the scariest thing I've ever been through in my life," Westfall said. "We were all praying, scared for our lives. We didn't think we were going to make it."

No one was injured. The boat is still seaworthy, but it sustained a lot of internal damage, the crew said.

The trip did have a positive side to it: The crew netted about 20,000 pounds of Caribbean snapper, Geidel's largest haul ever. But even with a record load of fish onboard, the crew went more than two days without eating because the storm destroyed the boat's galley and stove.

Geidel said Hurricane Ike taught him the toughest lesson he has learned in 25 years at sea.

"I'm going to stay a little further away from hurricanes, I know that," he said. "I will not chance it again."

Tribune reporter Josh Poltilove contributed to this report.

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