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PONCE INLET -- As Hurricane Isabel pounded North Carolina's Outer
Banks on Thursday, Central Florida beachgoers also felt the impact of
the faraway storm.The surf was so powerful near Ponce Inlet that a
25-foot fishing boat was tipped and nearly submerged about 4 p.m.,
Coast Guard officials said. Two people on the boat, including a
9-year-old boy, were thrown overboard.

The boy, who was not wearing a life jacket, was rescued minutes later.
The other person, a middle-aged man, was rescued about 20 minutes
later when a nearby 17-foot fishing boat was able to navigate through
a break in the waves and pull him from the water, said Sr. Chief Mike
Silvey of the Ponce Inlet Coast Guard station.

No one on the boat was identified.

Silvey credited John King, of New Smyrna Beach, and Ernest Dawood, of
Port Orange, with saving the man's life.

"He was in the water 15 to 20 minutes," Silvey said. "Any longer and
he would have gone under."

Silvey said the boat owner, who was not identified, was given two
federal citations for having two children under 13 on his boat who
were not wearing life jackets and a third citation for negligent
operation. State Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission authorities
also gave the boat owner a citation for careless operation.

Mike Hensler, a deputy chief with the Volusia County Beach Patrol,
said the rough currents and big waves, as high as 10 feet in some
areas, kept swimmers and surfers out of the water Thursday. The waves
should be smaller this weekend, though rip currents likely will be a
concern.
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Rough enough to flip a 25'er and two guys have the balls to go and
rescue them in a 17'er?

They must have been in a Whaler, like mine :-)
--
SJM