Missing fisherman found 53 miles out in gulf

Rescuers search for more than 30 hours before finding Francis LaFeir and his boat off Sarasota. ''He's fine,'' says the Coast Guard.

By JANEL STEPHENS
© St. Petersburg Times
published December 11, 2002

RUSKIN -- Francis LaFeir isn't in the habit of fishing off Egmont Key by himself.

But the 48-year-old detention deputy at the Orient Road Jail wanted to try out a new motor on his 26-foot boat.

"We hadn't had a chance to take it out and test it," said his wife, Carol.

LaFeir left his Brandon home shortly after 6 p.m. Sunday and headed to Shell Point Marina in Ruskin, where his 1989 Holiday cruiser, Family Time, was anchored.

When he didn't return that evening, his wife became worried.

"I was expecting him home that night," she said.

After he failed to show up for work at 7 a.m. Monday, she reported him missing. By Tuesday, she was keeping vigil near her phone at the couple's two-story brick home on Old Sawmill Road in Brandon.

Hillsborough sheriff's deputies and the U.S. Coast Guard searched the Gulf of Mexico with helicopters and boats for more than 30 hours before LaFeir was found at 10 a.m. Tuesday.

Coast Guard Petty Officer Paul Rhynard said LaFeir drifted 53 miles west off the coast of Sarasota after experiencing trouble with his engine and anchor. A fisherman discovered LaFeir in his disabled boat and radioed a distress signal to the Coast Guard.

"He's fine," Rhynard said Tuesday afternoon. "He has no medical injuries that we're aware of."

The marine forecast Sunday showed winds of 10 to 15 knots with a moderate chop off the bay and seas 2 to 4 feet. The National Weather Service issued a small craft caution early Monday, which turned into an advisory as east winds reached 15 to 20 knots, creating seas of 6 to 8 feet.

"(The advisories) are ways of letting mariners know that conditions are rough," said meteorologist Rick Davis of the National Weather Service in Ruskin. "The strong east wind would definitely push a craft out into the gulf," he said.

Mrs. LaFeir said the boat was equipped with a ship-to-shore radio, and her husband had a cell phone. But, "all we got was his voice mail" on his cell phone, she said. She's not sure what happened to the radio. LaFeir was being towed to shore Tuesday afternoon and could not be reached.

The rescue comes a day after two Hernando County teenagers died when their personal watercraft became disabled in the gulf. It appears the boys died of hypothermia.

Rhynard warned mariners to heed craft advisories and weather reports.

"This is a definite case study in why you have to check weather reports before going off shore," he said. ". . . it would have prevented a lot of aggravation on his part."

LaFeir has been a detention deputy for the Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office since January 1998.

-- Times researcher John Martin contributed to this report.

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