Schuyler Found; 3 Others Still Missing Off Florida Coast

((HT: Tampa Tribune/Johnson, Morelli, Thompson, Poltilove))

The U.S. Coast Guard found one of four missing boaters wearing a lifejacket and clinging to their capsized vessel in the Gulf of Mexico about 40 miles southwest of Clearwater and continued searching today for the other three.

Nick Schuyler ((pictured, thanks Tampa Tribune/Cliff McBride)) a former University of South Florida football player, was rescued and taken to Tampa General Hospital, where he was admitted in serious but stable condition.

His father, Stuart, said this afternoon that his son was dehydrated and his body temperature was below normal. He had some scrapes and bruises, but, his father said, "He should be OK."

He was with former Tampa Bay Buccaneers Marquis Cooper and Corey Smith and Will Bleakley, another former University of South Florida football player when the four left on a fishing trip about 6:30 a.m. Saturday and did not return.

Schuyler arrived at Tampa General via Coast Guard helicopter 1:18 p.m. dressed in a blue Coast Guard jumpsuit. Stuart Schuyler said his son was heavily medicated and was difficult to understand. He did not say how the boat was capsized.

At the hospital, Schuyler was helped into a gurney and appeared to have a scrape on his right ankle but was otherwise alert and talking to emergency personnel.

Stuart Schuyler said his son had been in the water since Saturday afternoon. He did not recall the exact conversation they had when he first saw his son, but he remembered his son saying, "Hi, Pops."

Schuyler's mother, Marcia, went to see her son as soon as he was brought into the hospital. She said he told her, "'Mom, I kept saying you are not going to my funeral.' And that's what kept him hanging on," she said.

When she got the call from the Coast Guard that her son had been rescued, "I passed out," she said. "I went down. You couldn't ask for a better ending for us."

Her husband said the family is thinking of the others.
"Our hearts are going out to the three men still missing," he said.

Bleakley's mother, Betty, said Schuyler's rescue is wonderful news.
"That definitely gives us all hope, for sure, that they found the boat and can narrow the search down," she said. Her family is "just waiting and hoping for the best."

Coast Guard Capt. Timothy Close said Schuyler told rescuers the boat was anchored when it overturned, but it was not at anchor when a spotter aboard the cutter Tornado found Schuyler.
Ray Sanchez, Cooper's cousin, said the Coast Guard told family members all four men were together about 12 hours after the boat flipped but three drifted away. All were wearing lifejackets.

Cooper's boating experience gives the family hope, he said.
"If he wasn't experienced and didn't know what he was doing, maybe we'd worry," Sanchez said. "We're confident he's going to come home. He'll be back, definitely."

The boat was found south of where the four men intended to go fishing and was not in the area the Coast Guard focused the original search, which began at 2 a.m. Sunday.

Close said the Coast Guard is searching a smaller area based on where the boat was found. Originally, computer models used to predict where a boat would drift sent searchers northeast.
The original search pattern was established based on where the fishermen intended to go but there was no way the computer models could tell where the boat was when it flipped, Close said.
Two Coast Guard investigators will try to interview Schuyler to get more information that will help pinpoint the search.

"We told the family members of all on board. The Schuylers were very happy," Close said.

The original area being searched Sunday, about 750 square miles west of Clearwater, had "about tripled" this morning, Coast Guard Petty Officer Sondra Kneen said.

The Coast Guard had searchers flying over the area in two helicopters and two airplanes and three in the water on a variety of vessels, including an 87-foot cutter, she said. Aircraft from other agencies are involved as well, like a U.S. Air Force C-130 from Moody Air Force Base in Georgia and a 179-foot Coast Guard Cutter from Pascagoula, Miss.

The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission joined the search this morning.
"We've got one boat and two officers out right now," commission spokesman Gary Morse said. "We're searching the inshore coastal waters."

The Pinellas County Sheriff's Office also searched near shore.
He said the search extended south from where the missing men put in, but high winds and seas made it difficult for rescuers.

Close said the water in the search area today was 68 degrees.
At that temperature, a typical person can expect to float two to seven hours before exhaustion or unconsciousness sets in, and if the person is not wearing a life vest, he or she subsequently drowns, said Randy Boone, who used to work as a senior chief aviations survivalman with the coast guard until he retired in 1996.

With a life vest, a person will survive for a little bit longer, he said.
"Everybody's body is going to react differently," said Boone, who now designs and sells personal beacon locators that boaters can wear as a fanny pack or attach to their life vests.
"The guys they're looking for out there are in real good shape."

Even so, Boone gives the three men a low level of survivability unless, like their friend, they found a way to get out of the water and climb onto something. A hypothermia chart used by rescuers says the longest someone can last in 68-degree water is 40 hours.

The coast guard calculates survivability when they decide how long to search for someone, Boone said. The Coast Guard's search was hampered Sunday by bad weather conditions, including gusting 30-mph winds and 14-foot seas. On Sunday morning, the Coast Guard pulled in its 47-foot rescue boat because the rough seas.

Close said Sunday there was no communication with the men even before the weather started to worsen, and no SOS call was received.

"That's not to say they didn't send one out," he said. "We didn't receive anything."

The men were in a 21-foot, center console boat manufactured by Everglades Boats, Close said Sunday. The company advertises that because of the construction technique, the vessels are difficult or impossible to sink, he said.

On its Web site, the company also says the construction process "makes Everglades Boats unsinkable."

Cooper owns the boat, and he and Smith have been on fishing trips before, said Ron Del Duca, Smith's agent. The pair had been teammates with the Bucs in 2004.

Del Duca said Smith is one of the "good guys" of the league and was planning to start visiting teams as a free agent this week. He said he has spoken with Smith's family and is also in touch with Coast Guard officials.

Cooper, who played at the University of Washington, told The Seattle Times in 2002 that one reason he chose the Seattle school was the abundant fishing nearby.

"I like fighting the fish," Cooper told the newspaper. "And just relaxing out there and being alone and being outside."

Cooper grew up in Arizona, and his father is a sportscaster in Phoenix. Bruce Cooper described his son as an avid fisherman who goes deep sea fishing "any opportunity he gets." The two went deep sea fishing together two years ago.

"I swore I would never do so again," Cooper said in a statement. "I didn't like the fact that I couldn't see land. Needless to say I am very concerned. I am praying and hoping for the best."

USF coach Jim Leavitt said his program is in shock. Bleakley, a tight end who went to Crystal River High School, played with the Bulls from 2002 to 2006. Schuyler was a walk-on defensive lineman in 2006 but never played in a game.

Searchers were encountering rough seas today, especially more than 20 miles from shore, though not as bad as Sunday, and conditions will slowly improve through the day.

Waves this morning range from about six feet close to shore to 10 feet more than 20 miles from the coast, and the National Weather Service says a small craft advisory remains in effect until 10 p.m.As the day goes by, waves could drop to three to seven feet, weather service meteorologist Charlie Paxton said.

Water temperatures in the Gulf are in the 60s, he said.

The search started 50 miles offshore because a family member provided GPS coordinates of a place the men have fished in the past.

Here's the afternoon presser update from the Coast Guard, thanks to our friends from ABC 28...