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Six survive boat capsizing at sea By Joanna Collins When a group of five local fishermen � one with his son �went ocean-fishing Sunday, they didn�t expect to come back without a boat. "The ocean was nice and flat and calm," said Jerry Roland of Phoenix. Roland, his 11-year-old son Cody and four other men took the trip off the coast of Gold Beach. It was the first trip of the year for all of them. The owner of the boat, Barry Kirkwood of Medford, had just made a number of improvements on his 22-foot vessel and was excited to take it out. The day started well. "One of the best days of fishing in a long time," is how Roland put it. Things changed when the men began making their way back to the shore near the mouth of the Rogue River. Kirkwood was piloting from inside the cabin with two of his friends when he turned around in time to see a "huge" wave breaking behind the boat. "I didn�t have enough time to do any maneuvering," said Kirkwood. "The only thing I could do was back off on the throttle and hope to ride up on the swell." In the back of the boat, Roland, his son Cody and his stepfather looked up to see a wall of water crashing down. "My first reaction was to get my hands on my son and hold on to him," said Roland. They made it through the first wave along with everyone else. "We both kinda blew a sigh of relief, but what we didn�t know at the time was that there was a second wave behind us," said Kirkwood. "After that it was like being inside a washing machine, getting all tumbled up." The impact of the second wave flipped the boat, leaving the men trapped underneath. They breathed air trapped in the floating craft. Kirkwood and his two friends, Matt Allison and Perry Williams, made it out of the cabin. Kirkwood remembers going to the air pocket in the back of the boat to look for the three others, but doesn�t remember much more. Roland remembers Kirkwood�s concern for him and his son. "Barry said �You have to go right now,� " Roland recalled. The two men gave Cody a push, then followed him out from underneath the boat. Fortunately, members of the Coast Guard in an onshore lookout saw the waves coming and were already on their way to help the stranded fishermen, and a Coast Guard helicopter crew was aloft on a routine check of the coast. The group was out of the water, unharmed, within 10 minutes. "It was one of those things that would probably happen to you once in a lifetime," said Roland, who has ocean-fished all his life. "Everybody handled themselves in a very calm manner and I think that�s probably why we got out of there," he said. As for the boat? Kirkwood assumes it�s still out there, floating somewhere. He said he hopes to retrieve it when it�s found. Probably a good thing, since Roland says he�s itching to get back on the water and catch some more fish. Obituaries | Sports | Business | Classifieds | Tempo | Prime Times | So Oregon Sites | Outdoor Journal | Subscribe | Contact | Movies | Advertise | Real Estate Showcase | Archive | Editorials | Letters to the editor | Religion | Wake-up Call | NIE | Cyber Chef | Job Network | So Oregon Weather | WSJ Northwest | Forums | AP Wire | AP Money | F.A.Q. | Awards Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. The Community Newspaper Subsidiary of Dow Jones & Co, Inc Copyright �The Mail Tribune 2000, Medford, Oregon USA