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| Fishermen test the ocean at their own peril By David F. Smydra Jr.--[ david@hmbreview.com ] Published/Last Modified on Wednesday, December 19, 2007 1:53 PM PST Two weeks after Ben Hannaberg and Jim Davis were lost at sea aboard The Good Guys, speculation has turned in some quarters to whether they should have confronted such high seas aboard the 25-foot fiberglass boat. Hannaberg's family wanted "to dispel any rumors or suggestions that (Hannaberg) was inexperienced" as a fisherman, said daughter-in-law Sheri Gaspard. "There were plenty of times that he went over there (to Pillar Point Harbor) and his deck hands wanted to go out and he said, 'no, it's too dangerous.'" Gaspard, whose mother-in-law had been Hannaberg's partner for 22 years, said it has been particularly difficult to take media questions about whether The Good Guys and its companion boat, Majek, should have gone after their crab pots on Dec. 4. "It was very frustrating for our family to see people interviewed and say he was inexperienced. There was a break in the storm, and the other boat just made it back before he did," Gaspard said. The National Weather Service had issued a small-craft advisory that morning due to heavy surf, according to the harbormaster's office. A small craft is considered to be 36 feet or smaller. By the time the Majek and The Good Guys tried to make it back to the harbor's mouth, waves had grown as high as 32 feet every 17 seconds, forcing even a 53-foot party boat called The New Captain Pete to head back to the harbor after helping to search for Hannaberg and Davis for 20 minutes. Unlike the California Highway Patrol, which can close a state road due to inclement weather, the San Mateo County Harbor Patrol does not have the power to close the ocean to fishermen who choose to brave such conditions, district officials said. "We can only terminate a voyage for violations - safety equipment, overloading, stuff like that," said Assistant Harbormaster John Draper. "We can't terminate a voyage for weather per se." Draper said that harbormasters do their best to keep all of Pillar Point's commercial boats up to date with safety requirements. But for vessels that enter the water via the launch ramp, harbormasters rarely have the chance to prevent boats from dropping in. Draper said that in addition to Pillar Point Harbor's 369 berthed vessels, as many as 250 additional boats could use the boat ramp during heavy weekends in the fishing season. "There's nothing on the law books that stops people from going out if they want to go out," Draper said. "It's not about tightening a law, because there is no law." Harbor District Commissioner Sally Campbell agreed. Campbell said that she and Draper's boss, Harbormaster Dan Temko, are "at a loss" about how to educate fishermen of all the risks Mother Nature can offer, even after acknowledging that professional fishermen generally "sure in the heck know what they're doing." "We have approximately 10,000 launches down at that six-lane launch ramp every year," Campbell said, noting there are less than half a dozen harbormasters on duty at any given time. "I don't know how you stop them." The Good Guys was berthed at slip F27. The Majek entered the water through the boat launch. It's unclear how greatly, if at all, the shortened crab season impacted the decision of Hannaberg and Davis to take the boat out. Gaspard said that Hannaberg had fished his entire life and "kind of worked his way up to (owning) a boat." Until three years ago, he had worked in a warehouse in Tracy. "He retired early and just wanted to fish, for the joy of fishing. It was just purely out of the love of doing it," she said. Hannaberg's body washed ashore almost exactly one week following his disappearance. The county coroner confirmed the identity by Dec. 12. Davis remains lost at sea. On Saturday afternoon, Gaspard said, about 300 people attended a memorial for Hannaberg that began at Sam's Chowder House on Highway 1, and eventually moved down to The Good Guys' slip at Pillar Point Harbor. There, family members put lilies in the water in remembrance of their loss. "Ben would give you the shirt off his back," Gaspard said. "He was a very simple, easy-going, mellow guy." |