[Capt. Bill]

It all started as a day trip with friends. Myself, my partner, the mate, his dad, step mom, sister and her boyfriend, all headed offshore for a day of fun fishing aboard my 39' Sea Ray. As the day went on, we had a great time soaking up the sun and catching fish over the wreck of the Mexican Pride, about 45 miles west of Sarasota. No one noticed that the genset had stopped charging sometime during the day and when we decided to leave, the batteries were very low on juice. My stubborn 3208 CATs hated low batteries. The port started okay, but the starboard refused. We began limping home on one engine. We got to the 30 mile mark and lost power. Anyone who knows CATs knows that the fuel solenoids only work when there is at least 8 volts on the battery, and mine were now flat, discharging as the engine ran. P.O.S.! I dropped the anchor and called Boat US towing. In about two hours they arrived with a jump pack, and we started the port engine again, only this time, I had both batteries routed to it to keep it running. The tow boat disappeared and we continued in at 5 mph. As night fell, a huge storm came upon us from shore, bringing gale winds, lightning and waves topping 15 feet. At the 15 mile mark, we lost the engine again, dropped anchor and started riding out the storm. Unfortunately, it wasn't one of those quick summer storms, this one was lasting all night. We were lucky in the fact that we had enough juice to run the GPS. The VHF wouldn't transmit though. Unbelievably, we got through to 911 on a cell phone and contacted the Coast Guard. We told the coasties of the problem, where we were and they said they were on the way. I, my mate and partner were up in the helm waiting for our tow, and I decided to go check on the others. When I entered the cabin, they were crying, throwing up in my buckets and praying for their lives. One said we were going to die! I told them to quiet down and relax. After all, the boat was holding up fine, we were anchored, and help is on the way. "If I hand you a life jacket and tell you to jump, THEN you can start crying!" I said, and returned to the helm, where my partner sat whistling the tune from Gilligan's Island. The Coast Guard Arrived at around 3 a.m. and towed us in. We reached the dock at 7 a.m., and everyone was fine. Funny, I never saw my mate or his family again!