The owner of the Hardway, Doug Mathwin, was overheard this week by another patron in a Channel Islands Sandwich shop talking to the proprietor about his boat that sank and Captain Chris Wazowicz who had died when the boat went down. The other patron said he saw a report in Allcoast for a boat named the Hardway, and gave Doug the web site info. Doug was able to find the web site which included my name and phone number.
According to Doug, the Hardway was a custom-built 44' New Wave fiberglass-wood-foam-kevlar hull built in 1996. It had all newer electronics, newer twin 350 cummins, etc., over a $200K, sport fishing and commercial boat. When found by the Coast Guard or other searchers (I believe on Saturday the 28th) it was floating or partially submerged further west, and then drifted into the China Point area at Catalina and went aground. Doug expressed some disappointment that the Coast Guard did not keep the Hard Way from sinking, especially considering that a death was involved with this incident. According to Doug, the searchers also had found the life boat near the west end of CAT.
Per Doug, we were the first responders on the scene after the boat had disappeared and then sunk. Coast Guard investigations are underway.
Doug is requesting that if you find any pieces of the boat, especially any with name or ID, that you call him: 805-218-0626.
The debris field which we found was spread out on the kelp line between west Salta Verde and China Point. At least 1 engine and part of the boat are on the beach just east of China Point.
Sat. Feb. 4th update:
I called the Coast Guard today in San Pedro regarding this case. They were unaware that we had the EPIRB and Survival Suit. I almost immediately got a call back today from Lt. Johnson of the US Coast Guard, who is the lead investigator on this case. He was unaware that we had found and retained the EPIRB and survival suit, although we had reported this last week by VHF radio to the San Diego group and had given them our name and phone numbers. I've been waiting all week for them to call and was surprised that we hadn't heard anything yet from the Coast Guard. Morris and I went to the San Pedro Coast Guard facility today on Terminal Island and turned-in this equipment in order to help the investigations and to return them to the boat owner.
If you find anything from the boat wreckage that may be of benefit to solving this case, you can reach Lt. Johnson at 310-707-7380.
Sun. Feb 5th update:
See newspaper article regarding the incident in post #6 below.
According to Doug, the Hardway was a custom-built 44' New Wave fiberglass-wood-foam-kevlar hull built in 1996. It had all newer electronics, newer twin 350 cummins, etc., over a $200K, sport fishing and commercial boat. When found by the Coast Guard or other searchers (I believe on Saturday the 28th) it was floating or partially submerged further west, and then drifted into the China Point area at Catalina and went aground. Doug expressed some disappointment that the Coast Guard did not keep the Hard Way from sinking, especially considering that a death was involved with this incident. According to Doug, the searchers also had found the life boat near the west end of CAT.
Per Doug, we were the first responders on the scene after the boat had disappeared and then sunk. Coast Guard investigations are underway.
Doug is requesting that if you find any pieces of the boat, especially any with name or ID, that you call him: 805-218-0626.
The debris field which we found was spread out on the kelp line between west Salta Verde and China Point. At least 1 engine and part of the boat are on the beach just east of China Point.
Sat. Feb. 4th update:
I called the Coast Guard today in San Pedro regarding this case. They were unaware that we had the EPIRB and Survival Suit. I almost immediately got a call back today from Lt. Johnson of the US Coast Guard, who is the lead investigator on this case. He was unaware that we had found and retained the EPIRB and survival suit, although we had reported this last week by VHF radio to the San Diego group and had given them our name and phone numbers. I've been waiting all week for them to call and was surprised that we hadn't heard anything yet from the Coast Guard. Morris and I went to the San Pedro Coast Guard facility today on Terminal Island and turned-in this equipment in order to help the investigations and to return them to the boat owner.
If you find anything from the boat wreckage that may be of benefit to solving this case, you can reach Lt. Johnson at 310-707-7380.
Sun. Feb 5th update:
See newspaper article regarding the incident in post #6 below.