[mitchman]

It was my vessel that sunk. Even though you tell your story it still manages to get flubbed by the news. What happened was towards the end of the day of fishing I went to get the hose out of the rear hatch and found it full of water. I discovered that the month-old bilge pump had burned out. I have an original 1969 hull with 20" transom that frequently gets water/waves splashing into the splashwell. It is also stern heavy with the far-rear console and 150 qt cooler that doubles as a seat. Water sometimes leaked into the hull from the splashwell through steering cable ports and rear seat hatches in the boat. I had taken measures to limit this but in the end it was not enough. Hard to believe that my hull filled up so much and though there quite possibly could of been another/new leak. I am on my boat several times a week May - October and hadn't noticed an issue lately either. Once the problem was discovered we reeled in the lines immediately to run for the nearest port (Menemsha). When I attempted to get the boat up on plane the water in the hull rushed to the back of the boat causing the rear end to swamp (didn't realize how much was in there). About 10 seconds later the boat listed, throwing the 3 of in the water. It was only a few seconds before the boat fully turtled and sank stern first with the bow in the air (that is burned into my memory). I would say it was 90 seconds from the time the first wave came over the transom to the boat sank.

We were very calm out there and no one panicked. It was almost surreal and couldn't believe that it just happened. We probably would of been more concerned if we were 60 miles offshore instead of 6 miles in sight of the vineyard. It was actually a bit of an adrenaline rush...

As far as the camera, my buddy has one of those go pro cameras and hes very annoying taking random video with it when were are boating and fishing. He had been taking footage that day randomly too. When we we were in the water, our 3rd friend was in contact with the coast guard and commercial boat, but we were all in good spirits. My buddy remembers that the go pro was in the his duffel bag (which somehow magically floated) and he starts taking video again.