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Fog resulted in fatal boat crash

The Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission and Coast Guard are trying to sort out the details about the Jan. 24 collision.

By ROBIN STEIN
Published February 2, 2006

It was a moment of distraction in thick morning fog.

The captain of a 56-foot sport yacht, Almost There, told the U.S. Coast Guard that he had been adjusting his navigation system when he looked up to see his boat entering a heavy band of fog about 10 miles off Anclote Key.

Then, out of nowhere, he saw the Lazy Bones, a 31-foot fishing charter, dead ahead.

"It was too late when he saw the boat, and there was no time to maneuver," Petty Officer Joe Eick said.

The yacht smashed into the smaller vessel, sinking it within minutes and ultimately taking the life of a 67-year-old passenger, who was vacationing from New Jersey.

The Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission and the Coast Guard are still trying to sort out the details surrounding last week's unusual collision.

The Coast Guard station at Sand Key received the mayday call about 10 a.m. Jan. 24 from Michael Ronald Lacey II, the captain of Almost There.

He reported that he had just struck an anchored fishing boat and that its four passengers were being transferred onto his yacht because the boat was sinking, Eick said.

Lacey said Theresa Mazzola, a retired librarian, appeared to be injured. She and her husband were among four people aboard the Lazy Bones, a Tarpon Spring charter owned by Captain Andy Hoffman.

Initial reports indicated that the collision had reactivated Mazzola's pre-existing lumbar injury, Eick said.

Two Coast Guard vessels were dispatched to the scene. When they arrived at 10:56 a.m, the crew's emergency medical technician climbed aboard the Almost There to evaluate Mazzola.

After reviewing her vital signs and consulting with an agency surgeon, Eick said, they decided to transfer Mazzola in a basket onto the Coast Guard's 47-foot vessel, which would take her to the Clearwater Coast Guard Station about 50 minutes away.

At that time, Eick said, Mazzola had no visible injuries and all of her vital signs were strong.

But she began to have trouble breathing about 10 to 15 minutes before they reached the Clearwater station, Eick said.

Clearwater Fire and Rescue crews at the station found that Mazzola suffered internal injuries and classified her condition as a "trauma level 1," the most serious classification.

She was immediately flown via helicopter to St. Petersburg's Bayfront Medical Center, where she died later that day.

Eick said it would have been possible for a helicopter to transport Mazzola directly from the boat, but that her condition at the time did not appear to warrant the additional risk of the transfer.

While he does not know the specific injuries that led to her death, Eick said they appear to be the result of "the impact and jolt" of the collision.

After the crash, Hoffman and an unknown passenger rode back to shore aboard the Almost There after the Coast Guard made sure it was seaworthy.

"Our boarding party couldn't find any damage to the Almost There," Eick said.

Attempts to reach Lacey, 45, this week were unsuccessful. Hoffman, 73, declined to speak to reporters about the accident.

But among the close-knit community of mariners in Tarpon Springs, Hoffman is highly regarded. "He's very knowledgeable," said George Billiris, a sponge merchant who said he hired Hoffman years ago to captain some of his boats.

"Andy is a really, really good captain," said Joyce French, captain of the Narcosis charter boat. "He was anchored up when the boat hit him - what can he do about that?"

French and other professional boaters based in Tarpon Springs had never heard of Lacey or the Almost There, which is docked at the Marker One Marina in Dunedin.

In fog like that, Billiris said, boaters need to be especially vigilant and remember to blow their fog horn frequently. French questioned why Lacey was using autopilot, given the weather.

"The rules of the road are don't go anywhere on a foggy day like that with 50-foot visibility. The best thing to do is stop unless it is an emergency," said Tasso Karistinos, captain of the Anastasia.

Eick said he did not know if Lacey was indeed on autopilot, or how fast his yacht was traveling when it struck the Lazy Bones.

"There's no speed limit," he said. "But there's general practice that you only go as fast as it is safe."

After some initial confusion over which agency had jurisdiction, it was decided that the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission would take the lead role in the investigation.

Gary Morse, a wildlife commission spokesman, said cases involving fatalities often take months to complete.

Times researcher Carolyn Edds contributed to this report.

[Last modified February 2, 2006, 02:15:36]