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Boaters' rescuers now known
By AMY WIMMER, Times Staff Writer MADEIRA BEACH -- Mystery solved. The two men who jumped into the gulf to help a fellow boater during a violent storm this month were brothers on a chartered fishing trip. Dan Watts donned a life jacket and went in first, ultimately taking the helm from Thomas Painter and his fiancee, Sandra Stockman. Watts' brother Jerry followed -- without a life jacket -- and bailed water out of the sinking 15-foot flats boat. Painter and Stockman contacted the Times to tell about the perilous afternoon, when they were caught offshore as a storm moved across coastal Pinellas and spawned a tornado that damaged 40 homes in a St. Pete Beach neighborhood. Painter and Stockman were hoping to identify their rescuers, who appeared on the horizon in a 33-foot sport fishing boat as the couple tried to escape the current that was sucking their small boat backward. Dave Zalewski, piloting the fishing boat Lucky Too II, sped through the current, and the Watts brothers followed in its wake, driving Painter and Stockman's boat. The rescuers dropped the couple off at John's Pass and left before Painter and Stockman could thank them or even buy them a beer. After a story appeared in the Times, Zalewski, who writes for the newspaper's Outdoors section, called to say he was part of the rescue. Painter contacted Zalewski to thank him -- and to find out his favorite brand of beer. But Zalewski said thanks weren't necessary. "Don't bother," Painter said Zalewski told him. "Fishermen stick together. If you ever see someone in trouble, just do what you can to help." Zalewski said conditions were in a "whiteout" when he spotted Painter and Stockman. Between the sheets of rain and heavy wind gusts, the captain could communicate with the couple only with hand signals. "They were in a situation where they could have very well ended up in the water," Zalewski said. The Watts family, longtime charter clients of Zalewski's, were on board with the boat captain throughout the day. "We just had a great day of fishing," Zalewski said, though Painter and Stockman were the biggest catch of the day. Said Zalewski: "You sure hope that if you're ever in that situation, there's someone out there to give you some assistance."
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From the Times South Pinellas desks Letters |
