Coast Guard rescues local musician, friends

Clutching a pole to keep his head above water for more than an hour last
night, local musician Orlando Phillips kept thinking the worst.

He could no longer hear the voices of his brother and two friends, who had
also gone overboard when his 25-foot Regal powerboat sank near Herrington
Harbour North about 10:30 p.m. The pole and the life vest he was wearing
were enough to keep him safe, he thought, but he figured his friends had
nothing to hang onto. Luckily, the three men also had life jackets - and a
good grip on each other as they drifted more than a mile away from Mr.
Phillips.

The Coast Guard found the three of them huddled together just after 1 a.m.,
more than two hours after they had plunged into the bay. Mr. Phillips, 51,
who was found by searchers at 11:30 p.m., was overjoyed.

"I was convinced they were gone," he said. "I went from devastation to
complete joy when they told me they were OK."

Mr. Phillips, of Annapolis, had just wrapped up his usual Sunday evening
Caribbean-themed show at the Calypso Bay Restaurant and Dock Bar, at 410
Deale Road in Tracys Landing, when he jumped on his boat with his brother,
Annapolis musician Gregory Phillips - of the Greg Phillips Trio - and
friends Francois Koryak of Glen Burnie and Pantalakis Panayi of Annapolis to
take an evening ride.

Mr. Koryak, 39, wanted to operate the boat, Mr. Phillips said. So after they
got into the open water, he let his friend take the wheel.

Minutes after that, the boat's propeller got caught in a commercial fishing
net, said Sgt. Ken Turner, a spokesman for Maryland Natural Resources
Police.

"I had to look for a knife and it took a few minutes to find one," Mr.
Phillips said. "After I found it, I started cutting the fish net away. But
it was stuck, and the water was so rough that eventually the boat took on
water and began to sink."

A couple of men started removing water with buckets, while another got on
the phone and called for help.

"We were bucketing the water out of the boat, trying to prolong the
sinking," Mr. Phillips said. "We continued to do that until it just went
under."

The boat and the band equipment in the bow sank.

After he went overboard, Mr. Phillips found a nearby pole and latched onto
it for his life. He said he called out to his friends and the group yelled
back and forth - until suddenly things got quiet.

"They answered for two to three minutes and then I didn't hear them
anymore," he said. "I was just hanging onto this pole and I was convinced
they were gone.

"I felt like if I didn't have this pole I wouldn't make it. So I figured
they wouldn't make it. It was total misery."

County fire officials, Natural Resources Police, the Coast Guard, Maryland
State Police and emergency crews from Calvert County searched the water for
an hour before finding Mr. Phillips, according to Sgt. Turner.

After being plucked from the water, all Mr. Phillips could do was answer
questions and wait.

After an hour and a half of devastating thoughts, he was given the good
news - his brother and two friends had been found, and everyone was fine.

"Just cuts and bruises - we all just had cuts and bruises," he said. "We
were all just exhausted too, but really relieved that they got us."

Mr. Phillips said his friends weren't too worried about him because he had
the pole to hang onto.

"But I was worried about them," he said. "The whole thing was terrifying."

Mr. Koryak was cited for failure to have a proper lookout, Sgt. Turner said.