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Rescuers searching for boater

He launched his new fishing boat Thursday afternoon. It is found Friday morning, washed up 3 miles away.

By AARON SHAROCKMAN
Published November 19, 2005

SAFETY HARBOR - An Oldsmar man remained missing Friday night after the fishing boat he was testing for the first time was found along the Courtney Campbell Parkway on Friday morning, authorities said.

Terrence Matthew Orndorf, 30, launched his 15-foot-long, light-blue motorized canoe, called a gheenoe, from the Philippe Park boat ramp about 1 p.m. Thursday. He had purchased the boat Sunday, neighbors said, and was itching to fish the waters of Old Tampa Bay.

But eight hours later, Orndorf hadn't returned to his home on Lexington Street, where his wife, Christina, and infant son Wesley were waiting, authorities said. His white pickup truck was still at Philippe Park.

His boat was found the next morning, washed up nearly 3 miles to the south, wedged between rocks at the base of the parkway, authorities said. Orndorf was not in the boat, nor was the 9 horsepower motor, said Tasha Tully, a U.S. Coast Guard spokeswoman.

The boat was still seaworthy but had sustained some damage, said Tully and Pinellas County Sheriff's Office spokeswoman Marianne Pasha.

The boat "did not look like it was taking on water," Tully said. The boat and its contents - a life jacket, two cushions and two oars - were impounded by sheriff's investigators.

Officials would not speculate on what might have happened. A cold front moving through Tampa Bay on Thursday increased wave activity in the normally calm bay. Neighbor Cameron Vale said the waves may have been 6 to 8 inches higher than usual.

Coast Guard and Sheriff's Office boats, with assistance from the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, tried without success Friday to find Orndorf, who moved to Oldsmar in April from Grayson, Ga., east of Atlanta.

A sheriff's boat was also using sonar technology to scan the bay floor.

Officials will continue their water search today, Tully said.

Orndorf is an "outdoors buff" who tries everything fun, said Harold McCormick, Orndorf's neighbor in Alachua, where he grew up. Orndorf owned a four-wheeler and a motorcycle, and could be seen riding both whenever he had a free moment, McCormick said. He played basketball with McCormick's son, Eric.

"He'd go cruising the country in his motorcycle," McCormick said Friday afternoon. "He was doing great."

Family members, including Orndorf's parents, Tom and Mary Ann Orndorf, gathered at his Oldsmar home Friday afternoon to await news. They declined to comment.

Neighbors awoke in the predawn hours Friday to searchlights from boats and helicopters circling the bay.

Vale said another neighbor told him the boats were searching for the man he knew as Terry.

Vale and Orndorf had just talked about going on a boating trip together so Vale could scuba-dive and Orndorf could fish.

"He was new to the area and looking to meet people, make friends," Vale said.

Another neighbor, Dorothy Larson, often saw Orndorf pushing his infant son in a stroller.

"They were darling," Larson said.

[Last modified November 19, 2005, 01:08:18]