‘Rooster Sportfisher’s Close Call Serves as Fleet’s Wake-Up Call

Andy Cates is back at sea, aboard the Red Rooster III--and he’s in some pretty hot water.

The young captain is making his first voyage since the 105-foot sportfishing vessel collided with a 700-foot freighter at night nearly two weeks ago, 450 miles south of the border off Baja. There were no injuries and the boat suffered only a crumpled bow and was able to make it back to its San Diego landing without assistance.

Cates, 28, however, is going to be charged with negligence and misconduct as a result of the collision and faces the probable revocation of his operating license for one year and probation for two more years when a U.S. Coast Guard investigation is complete and his case comes before a Coast Guard administrative law judge, probably in January.

Cates and the vessel’s other licensed skipper, Bryan Haslam, reportedly were sleeping at the time of the incident and had left the Red Rooster III--with 27 passengers and eight crew members aboard--in the hands of a deckhand for a two-hour stint on the third night of a nine-day trip, with orders to wake either of the skippers if anything showed within two miles of the vessel on the radar.

The deckhand, whose identity both the landing and Coast Guard refused to reveal, and who has since been fired, failed to do this for some reason. But he was able to throw the boat into reverse immediately before the collision and in doing so probably averted a far more serious accident.

The northbound freighter did not stop and has not been identified. Its crew might not even have known about the Red Rooster III or felt the collision. Had the steel-hulled freighter scored a direct hit on the aluminum sportfisher, however, “It probably would have sliced it in half,” said Coast Guard Lt. Chris Palmer, the lead investigator who has leveled the charges against Cates.

Palmer said Thursday that the negligence charge stems from Cates’ taking a nap and leaving an unqualified person at the wheel.

“The rules are very clear,” Palmer said. “The master of a vessel [if he is not behind the wheel] has to be in direction and control of the vessel at all times. Now, when you’re asleep that’s not possible.”

The misconduct charge stems from Cates’ failure to notify the Coast Guard of the incident until the next day. The loss of a license for a year, Palmer said, “is a likely scenario,” but he added that had there been serious injuries or fatalities, the punishment would be much more severe.

Cates has refused to comment, pending the conclusion of the investigation, but Palmer said, “He knows what he did and said he’ll take his licks and use what happened to educate others.”

Since Haslam was only a second skipper and not master of the vessel, he will not be charged.

Incidents such as these are rare and San Diego’s large multi-day fleet has a good safety record. The vessels are required to have at least two licensed captains aboard and many landing operators employ as many as five to reduce the fatigue factor.

“I always have at least five,” said Frank LoPreste, 53, a veteran long-range skipper with 30 years’ experience, and owner of the popular Royal Polaris.

To keep anyone at the wheel from dozing off, the Royal Polaris has a bridge alarm that sounds every 20 minutes while the engines are running and gets louder each ring if nobody pushes a button.

Not all the boat owners are so meticulous, but the Red Rooster III incident has been a wake-up call for many, most notably Linda Palm, owner of the vessel and its home port, Lee Palm Sportfishing.

“We’ve already hired another person to pilot the boat at night and we want to get another,” she said. “We usually have three captains aboard, but we want to start using four.”

FINGER-POINTING

The Red Rooster III’s woes aside, long-range fishing has been pretty good. LoPreste returned Wednesday from the Finger Bank 60 miles north of Cabo San Lucas with 145 yellowfin tuna--the largest weighing 269 pounds and most weighing 150-170--175 yellowtail and 70 wahoo.

Tommy Rothery of the Polaris Supreme returned from the same area a few days earlier with an almost identical haul, including limits of dorado.

MOVE OVER, YANKEES

A 732-pound blue marlin caught by Erren O’Leary of Parker, Colo., in the final hour of last weekend’s Bisbee’s Black & Blue marlin tournament off Cabo San Lucas netted the four-man team a first-place sum of $535,300.

“It was like winning the World Series,” said Erren’s father, Rick.

Right, with a two-out homer in the bottom of the ninth in Game 7.

BIG-MONEY PLAYERS

Those aboard Chipper weren’t the only ones to strike it rich in the world’s richest billfish tournament. The second-place team aboard Bad Company earned $479,940 for a 498-pound blue marlin caught by Tracy Melton of Anaheim, and the third-place team aboard Vino Fino collected $276,120 for a 439-pound blue caught by Terry Kubitz of Chicago.

Mexico was also a winner, having imposed a 21% tax on all pots.

In all, 700 anglers making up 160 teams combined to catch 242 marlin--most were released--making Bisbee’s event one of the most action-packed.

A SWELL IDEA

The holding period for the first surfing contest at the notorious Mavericks break near Half Moon Bay south of San Francisco begins Monday. Mavericks pioneer Jeff Clark is the director of the event, called “Men Who Ride Mountains” and sponsored by Quiksilver.

It will feature 16 of the world’s best big-wave surfers vying for a share of a $50,000 purse--with $10,000 going to the winner--and is sure to be a spectacle, provided, of course, that a clean swell hits by the end of the holding period Jan. 27.

That shouldn’t be a problem, according to Clark, who said two large swells already have hit and that another is on the way.

“We’ll probably be out there [today],” he said.

Most likely, Clark added, the contest will be held in mid-December.

“We want to wait till everyone’s in midseason form,” he said.

The official Web site for the tournament: https://www.mavsurfer.com.

A CRAZY IDEA

Actually, it’s proving to be a great idea in terms of popularity, but the Hi-Tec Adventure Racing Series is one crazy event. Organizers proved that again last Saturday night with the national championships at Castaic Lake Recreation Area.

More than 270 three-person teams competed on a course that involved not only a 7.5-mile run, a 45-minute kayak and a 10.2-mile mountain bike ride, but a series of special tests, among them balancing partners on poles while running through water, carrying 150-pound railroad ties while running through mud and crossing a 25-foot peanut butter river.

“Actually, that’s mud too, but it had the consistency of peanut butter,” said Lori Hall, spokeswoman for the race, who acknowledged beforehand that a good deal of thought, some of it influenced by alcohol, goes into planning these special tests.

A Pittsburgh trio won the event by completing the course in a little more than 2 1/2 hours.

A HEAVENLY START

It’s early, but enough snow has fallen and more of it has been made to enable Heavenly Ski Resort on the south shore of Lake Tahoe to become the first resort in California open for skiing and snowboarding.

Heavenly opened one run Oct. 18 and hopes to have as many as six open--with a cover of eight to 24 inches--by Saturday.

“Not bad for this time of year,” said Monica Bandows, spokeswoman for the resort. “The question lately has been, ‘How long will you be open?’ Our answer--through May.”

* FISH REPORT, PAGE 12