CLEARWATER, Fla. – Four boaters from Polk County, including one celebrating his birthday, were rescued Tuesday after going missing during a fishing trip near Clearwater, according to police.
The Clearwater Police Department said the four men from Mulberry — Dennis Woods, 70; Clarence Woods, 90; Cris Harding Sr., 42; and Cris Harding Jr., 18 — left from the Seminole Street Boat Ramp around 9:30 a.m. Monday in a 25-foot green-and-white catamaran called "Money Well Wasted.”
The men were found safe Tuesday morning after the U.S. Coast Guard located their boat, which capsized about 26 miles offshore.
""That was the exciting time. We was standing on the top of the boat, we was clinging to it,” Dennis Woods described as the men saw the U.S. Coast Guard.
Family members told police the men usually return by 4 p.m. but by 8:30 p.m., they hadn’t come back. Woods said water started coming onto the boat and that it was a "matter of minutes” until it capsized.
"I figured it was a matter of time ‘cause I figured it would be late before anyone realized that we hadn’t come in,” Woods said in a video.
He said "the night was pretty rough” because the waves picked up and he spent the night holding up the 90-year-old.
Woods, whose 70th birthday was spent at sea, still said it was a good birthday.
"It was a good birthday, now that I’m back on land,” Woods laughed.