SARASOTA COUNTY, FL - A Venice man and his wife are watching the search for the missing boaters with hope and with dread. It was 8 years ago on exactly the same day that his boat sank about 13 miles off Venice Beach - not far from where the missing football player's boat capsized.
Neal Obendorf, along with Bill and Lew Lipsit, were in the water for more than 40 hours before they were rescued. The weather conditions were even similar to the conditions the 3 missing boaters in Clearwater faced.
It was a beautiful day when they went out -- then something went terribly wrong. A cold front came in and they found themselves helpless in the water. Neal was diving and his two friends were on the 30-foot boat when it sank. "They hadn't noticed that the boat had been taking on water. The two gentlemen were fairly large guys, and both of them standing on one side of...the center console caused the boat to tip over and lean a little bit, and water was allowed to come in through the drain on the floor," says Obendorf.
After their rescue, they talked about how they signaled for help. "Saturday night we did see two boats that we shot flares at to no avail."
They told rescuers that after being in the water for two days, they knew their time was running out. "By the time we were rescued, we had been awake over 50-some hours. Toward the end when we were rescued, hallucination was a big problem. The other two gentlemen actually took their life jackets off at different times Sunday night and swam away from us."
Meanwhile, back at home, Neal's wife Jackie was not sitting still. She says she learned that when a loved one is missing, you've got to mobilize help. "You alert authorities, you let the authorities know what's going on. And then you do your own search. You get the community involved, you get everyone you know involved, and you get them to find your loved one."
She credits the Venice community in helping save her husband's life. The yacht club went into action. "They sent out the big boats. All the big boats went. The Venice Airport, which I never got to officially thank the owner...gave us all the planes." It was a friend flying a private plane who first spotted the men in the water.
The 3 were taken to the hospital, grateful to be alive.
But now when Neal goes boating, he goes prepared. "Now I carry parachute flares - they last 45 seconds per blast. The 12-gauge only last 7 seconds. I also carry an EPIRB, a 406 MHz EPIRB that's satellite with a GPS in it."
The Obendorf's say be sure and tell someone when you're leaving, when you'll be back and where you're going and stick to that route. That way if you don't return, authorities will know where to look for you.
