Dillon Beach captain survives deadly boat mishap

What began as a simple crab-fishing outing off Bodega Bay ended in disaster for a Dillon Beach skipper early Saturday morning, when his two crewmates apparently drowned after his vessel rolled over and sank.

Coast Guard Petty Officer Eric Childers said Tuesday that the cause of the accident has yet to be determined.

The seas were calm and winds light when Dillon Beach resident Pete Miller, 28, owner and skipper of the 36-foot fishing boat Warrior, navigated through the channel between Bodega Head and Bodega Rock sometime after 2 a.m. Saturday, Childers said.

The accident occurred about a half mile outside the entrance jetty to Bodega Harbor - an area often beset by dangerous waves, Childers said.

"According to [Miller], he was in the wheelhouse driving the boat. The other two crew members were outside on deck, baiting crab pots when the vessel inexplicably rolled to starboard and capsized," the Coast Guard officer said.

Apparently the boat sank quickly, trapping Miller temporarily in the wheelhouse. The skipper reportedly was able to free himself by kicking out a window and swimming to the ocean surface, Childers said.

Miller was spotted in the water next to his sinking vessel by fishermen aboard the Bernice, which was heading east. The crew rescued Miller after notifying the Coast Guard around 2:45 a.m., and took him to Doran Beach, he said.

Emergency crews took him to Palm Drive Hospital in Sebastopol, where he was treated for mild hypothermia and released, he said.

Hypothermia notwithstanding, Miller repeatedly expressed his concern over his two crewmates, whose bodies weren't found until Tuesday afternoon, Childers said.

The missing fisherman were George Hadad, whose family lives in Massachusetts, and Enrique Lopez Vasquez, 22, whose relatives live in Mexico.

Neither man was wearing a lifejacket, and apparently only one of them knew how to swim, Childers said.

Divers from the Sonoma County Sheriff's Department set out to find the missing men around 10 a.m. Saturday. However, an hour later, they reported the current and other hazards prevented them from getting close to the boat - which was by then submerged under 30 feet of water and rolling around on the seafloor, he said.

The two bodies were finally found around 3 p.m. Tuesday by fishermen aboard the Mistasea, Childers said. "They were entangled in the crab-pot lines, which held them down under water."

Crab-pot fishing, along with other forms of commercial fishing, can be dangerous because they involve working with ropes, lines and heavy equipment on the sea's unstable surface, he said.

"The crab pots aboard the Warrior were made of steel re-bar, measured a few feet in diameter, and were fairly heavy - at least 100 pounds each. Each one also had a buoy attached to it with a line."

Crab fisherman typically stack these crab cages several feet high, a maneuver that can cause their boats to become unstable, Childers said.

Based on the number of buoys floating near the sunken Warrior, there were between 40 and 50 crab pots onboard, although it's impossible to tell at this time whether they overburdened the vessel, he said.

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