ORANGE BEACH, Ala. — Three of four men who spent almost a day in the Gulf of Mexico after their boat capsized in May recounted their story at the Orange Beach City Council work session Tuesday.

“It’s great to be alive,” Ron David said. “This is the first day of the rest of our lives.”

The four men, Ralph Elders, 65, Ron David, 75, Bayne Bridges, 67, and Travis Wilkerson, 34, all spent 22 hours in the Gulf’s salty waters while waiting to be rescued.

The vessel sank after the bilge pumps stopped working, and a six-foot wave threw more water into the boat than it could handle. Both engines quit working, after an anchor rope caught around the left engine and the other engine gave out trying to push the boat on its own. The fishermen were unable to get the boat on plane to drain it.

Before David could radio a distress call, he was “already under water.”

The men managed to salvage two life preservers; Wilkerson, a commercial fisherman, dived down to retrieve another. The bow resurfaced, so Wilkerson held on the bobbing boat remnant.

“The bow started to sink a little bit, but it seemed to hold his weight pretty well,” David said. “Now, understand that Travis (Wilkerson) weighs over 300 pounds. And he’s nothing but muscle.”

According to doctors, the men could have died if a few more hours had passed.

“The doctors couldn’t even find a vein in my hand to give me an IV when I got there,” Bridges said.

Respect the Water

Bridges, after experiencing a day’s worth of waiting to be rescued, outlined recommendations should locals find themselves in a similar situation.

Bridges recommended all boaters bring a floating, water-proof box with a satellite phone and possibly some flares. He emphasized the importance of life preservers and a “float plan.”

“Water is something that, if you don’t know it, you better respect it,” Bridges said.

The men commended the Marine Division of the Orange Beach Police. Sergeant Rich Nolte, the head of the division, went out looking for the fisherman on his own after hearing reports from neighbors. The Coast Guard, during its initial search, came within 100 yards of where the fishermen were floating.

Elders recommended the city to set up a wire service that would alert the boating community when fisherman and boat-goers are lost at sea. They were lucky a lady saw them through binoculars from her condominium and had enough initiative to alert the authorities.

“When people are missing, we need some kind of marine alert where emails would go out to all the boat captains and other people and let everybody know that we’ve got people missing,” Elders said.