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Fishing Expedition Goes Awry, Becomes Test of Survival Skills

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It was an afternoon dip they could have done without.

Alone in the middle of a tossing sea . . . rain pelting down on their heads . . . lightning striking all around . . .

And mysterious denizens of the deep rising to investigate these flailing strangers.

“I got bumped by something in the middle of the night,” Jens Lundy said. “But you try not to let those things bother you.”

You just try to swim faster.

Lundy, 26, of Scottsdale, Ariz., was one of four men whose rented plane recently crashed into the Sea of Cortez, where it promptly sank, leaving them stranded 10 miles offshore about 28 miles north of the small town of Loreto on the Baja California coast.

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“We went down there to go fishing, but got to swim with them instead,” said Bill Lundy, Jens’ father.

It was Jens who swam for 10 hours to reach help while the three others--his father, from Bend, Ore., and John and Jim Hawley, another father-son combination, of the Phoenix area--clung to a large cooler, bobbing like corks during the night and into the next morning, waiting for help.

Miraculously, all four survived, suffering only mild exposure, thanks to the skill of Jim Hawley, 27, the pilot, the life jackets they bought before their trip and water temperatures of 80-85 degrees.

And, of course, to the many sharks in the area that decided to leave them alone.

The four took off from Phoenix on Sept. 5. in a four-seat Mooney M-20E.

Expectations were high as the foursome flew south and across the gulf, what with the southern Sea of Cortez teeming with all sorts of game fish.

But as they approached Loreto, Hawley noticed a band of storms near the town. He tried to fly around them but as the plane began to climb, the engine stalled and could not be restarted.

Realizing they would have to make a forced landing on a bumpy sea, Hawley told his passengers to put on their life jackets, sent out a mayday call and turned the plane into the wind.

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He managed to slow it to about 40 mph, and to keep it level until touchdown, after which it plowed through the water briefly before stopping, upright and intact, about 2:45 p.m.

The storm was now upon them and they stepped out onto the wing, hoping to toss out as much gear as possible before the plane sank. This turned out to be basically a large cooler packed with diving equipment.

In the water, they watched with dismay as the plane slipped beneath the surface and disappeared.

“My dad and [Hawley’s] dad were hanging onto the cooler, but Jim and I were darting around like dolphins,” Jens Lundy said. “We were so elated not to have actually crashed.”

Eventually, though, reality struck. They were stranded several miles offshore in stormy weather, well aware that even if rescuers were on their way, they would have one heck of a time finding them.

They would later learn that a search had been launched, only to be postponed hours later because of the weather.

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“We did see a helicopter at one point, but it didn’t fly far enough north,” Bill Lundy said.

At about 6:30 p.m., Jens Lundy, the best swimmer in the group, decided to try for shore. He put on a pair of swim fins and headed toward the coast.

Darkness fell and the storm passed. The lights of Loreto were in the distance. Farther offshore, lightning filled the air. Overhead were a million glittering stars.

“The stars were so beautiful,” Bill Lundy said. “We must have seen 40-100 meteors [or shooting stars].”

Jens Lundy swam on, though there were times when he dozed briefly, his life jacket keeping his head above water.

As dawn was breaking, he was spotted fairly close to shore by a group of Mexican fishermen, who raced in their skiff to his rescue, and down the coast toward the town about 30 miles away.

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The search already had been resumed, and Lundy told authorities in Loreto about where he had left his companions.

Back at sea, exhausted, they clung to the cooler, scanning the horizon for boats, being entertained periodically by leaping dorado and soaring terns.

And they hoped not to see the dorsal fins of sharks.

“I got brushed by something smooth and warm, so I knew it wasn’t a shark,” Bill Lundy said. “It was probably a sea lion or a dolphin.”

Eventually, a Mexican navy vessel appeared in the distance, then a small skiff, which turned out to be their rescue boat. It reached the trio about 10:45 a.m., its crew as happy to see the crash victims as they were to see the crew.

“They were so happy to have picked up survivors, because most of the people they find are dead,” Bill Lundy said.

After spending the day at a hospital, and the night resting at a hotel, they caught a morning flight home, vowing to return sometime to do some fishing--and a lot less swimming.

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SHORT CASTS

Bradley Ball of Long Beach, competing in the annual Catalina Gold Cup marlin tournament, on Tuesday caught a 271-pound broadbill swordfish. It took four hours to land the powerful billfish, one of the most prized game fish in the world, so it didn’t much bother him that it didn’t qualify for the $400,000 being offered in the prestigious marlin tournament. “[Catching a swordfish] is pretty much the ultimate for me,” he said.

Preliminary results from the 1996 national survey of fishing, hunting and wildlife-associated recreation, show that Michigan had the most hunters in the country, 934,000; Florida had the most anglers, 2.9 million, and California had the most wildlife watchers, 5.7 million. California didn’t make the top five in hunters, but ranked second in the fishing category with 2.7 million anglers 16 or older. The survey is conducted every five years for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. . . . American Demographics recently conducted its own study and found that fishing ranks third on the list of activities that are fun. Second on the list was sports participation. First was, you guessed it, sex.

The second of California’s legislation-mandated free fishing days--prospective anglers can fish in fresh and saltwater without a license--is Sept. 27.

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