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Tangled line lands official in the gulf
By ALEX LEARY
© St. Petersburg Times, CRYSTAL RIVER -- Roger Batchelor, a fisherman long before he waded into politics, has spent a lifetime tying knots. But as the 63-year-old fishing guide and county commissioner learned on a recent Saturday, there are good knots and there are bad knots. A few hours into an early morning fishing expedition on Sept. 29, 6 miles off the gulf coast, Batchelor and three passengers found themselves in some rough water. A good time to leave, he reasoned. Forget the redfish, tasty as they are. Unable to reach his front anchor, he fired up the motor and edged forward. "I've done that 2,000 times," he recalled Thursday. This time, though, the wind and waves were too strong and his 24-foot ProLine turned around, the propeller blades wrapping around the anchor line, which like a boa constrictor, choked the motor dead. Frantically, he tried to cut the rope. "It was so tight. The boat couldn't come up. It couldn't ride the waves." As a large wave spilled over the stern, Batchelor realized he had seconds to act. "I'm taking on water, going down. I'm going to need help," he barked into the radio, hoping nearby boats would hear him. He told his passengers to grab a life jacket and jump. As they splashed into the 8-foot water, the boat began to flip, its side hitting Batchelor in the head. "I saw stars," he said, "but I was still conscious. I jumped out and swam to the front end." The men, more shocked than shaken, were rescued by a nearby boat. But Batchelor's $15,000 boat was in tough shape and about to get worse. A towing company came in that day but the water was still rough so they waited until the following Monday to begin the recovery. Batchelor, incredulous, said the company tugged his prized vessel for 5 miles -- while still upside down. "They tore it to pieces," he said. Larry Tieman of TowBoat U.S. said the boat had to be moved into shallow water before it could be uprighted. The damage, he said, may be because it sat in rough water for two days. Batchelor, who kept quiet about the incident until it was made public this week, said there was nothing he could have done differently, but he is embarrassed nonetheless. "I've gone back on it a thousand times," he said.
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