Coast Guard's search not an easy one

CLEARWATER - Windy skies and rough seas have proven troublesome for the Coast Guard as it searches for three football players who are still missing in the Gulf of Mexico.

“There’s a lot of different factors involved. It depends on the sea state, the winds and the size of the vessel,” said Coast Guard Lt. Tommy Wallin. “We’ve had over 20 to 30 mile per hour winds over the last 24 hours … It’s going to be a pretty tough find.”

Officers are looking for Detriot Lions free-agent defensive end Corey Smith and Oakland Raiders linebacker Marquis Cooper, who both played for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in 2004. They’re also searching for former University of South Florida football player Will Bleakley.

His former teammate, Nick Schuyler, was found clinging to the overturned 21-foot boat this afternoon.

"This story has shaken the entire USF football family and we continue to pray for their safe return, along with the safety of the Florida Coast Guard and supporting agencies as they continue their search," said USF football coach Jim Leavitt in an official statement.

Coast Guard officers have been combing the skies in two-mile tracks, using the plane’s large scanner windows – which allow the guard to see two miles out – to visually scour the water in addition to reviewing radar transmissions.

A mechanical issue forced the Coast Guard’s plane to land roughly nine hours early during its search Monday morning, but in the meantime, three other air stations have planes in the sky, all looking for signs of the boat or its passengers.

Though Lt.  Wallin said he was disappointed the search had to be temporarily stopped so the plane could be fixed, it hasn’t diluted the guard’s passion for finding the men.

“We don’t look forward to doing this, we don’t look forward to overturned boaters,” he said. “This is what gets people going, gets people moving and motivated to do their job: knowing there are people out there who need us.”

When it comes to staying safe while boating far from the shore, Wallin said he recommends going out with someone, having a second engine and – especially – keeping a 406 Emergency Position Indicating Radiobeacon (EPIRB) on board, which uses a special frequency used only for times of distress to send a signal to satellites, letting authorities know what kind of boat a person’s in and where it’s located.

“It makes our job a lot easier to find you if you can activate that,” he said.

The Coast Guard has said it received no communication from the men and did not receive an SOS signal. Officials have been using GPS coordinates provided by the four men’s families to determine where to look.

The men left around 6:30 a.m. on Saturday in Cooper’s boat, investigators say, and a family member called the Coast Guard to report them missing around 1 a.m. on Sunday when they didn’t come home.

Officials say the search will continue throughout the day.