3 Men Spend Night Stranded in Ocean

Three Conejo Valley men weathered 16 hours in the choppy and chilly Pacific Ocean aboard personal watercraft more than 30 miles off the Ventura County coast Friday and Saturday--all the while believing they were less than five miles from shore.

Tim Richards, 35, of Thousand Oaks and Eddie Reay, 22, and Joe Lamartina, 31, both of Newbury Park, were towed into Ventura Harbor on Saturday afternoon after a lobster fisherman spotted the men in the water early that morning off San Nicholas Island.

They had traveled to Santa Cruz Island on their personal watercraft at 7:30 a.m. Friday, and attempted to head back to Ventura Harbor about 10 a.m., Richards said. But conditions were foggy with low visibility and the men accidentally headed in the opposite direction toward San Nicolas.

At about 2:30 p.m. the machines started running out of gas, Richards said. His marine radio stopped working and his cell phone was out of range.

“We still weren’t afraid, because we had no idea we were so far offshore,” he said.

They spent the night trying to stay awake while rocking in the waves, bearing the cold water and an even icier wind-chill factor, they said.

“There are only so many positions you can get comfortable in when you’re on a Wave Runner out at sea,” Richards said.

The men had only breakfast and a nutrition bar all day, but “there were so many other pains, the hunger didn’t bother us,” Reay said.

After 16 hours at sea, the men were found by the fisherman, according to the U.S. Coast Guard.

“I’m really counting my blessings,” Richards said. “I don’t know how that boat found us--there’s nothing out there.”

Although personal watercraft regularly go to the islands, Coast Guard officials said the men were not carrying flares or a working radio.

“When people take the safety measures they should, it’s a lot easier to find them,” Petty Officer Mike Singleton said.