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SurvivorsTwo Navy officers recount
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Boating tragedies
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Chavez said: "I was just thinking to myself, 'I'm too young and still have too much to do. I wasn't going to go down without a fight."
Both Navy men told the news media at Pearl Harbor yesterday about their 20-hour ordeal in the ocean off the Waianae Coast Saturday and their rescue after Mantz's 21-foot Bayliner sank.
Petty Officer 1st Class Mantz took his boat he recently purchased for a trial run with Petty Officer 2nd Class Chavez.
The boat ran smoothly until they were near a buoy located about 21 miles from the shoreline when one of the engines stopped. Mantz turned around and saw the rear of the boat taking on water. "I noticed water right up the back of the boat."
After their boat sank, the men shot flares each time they saw a boat nearby. Just before nightfall, Mantz said they spotted a boat a half-mile away and shot their last flare right across the bow of the boat nearly striking it. But the boat continued on. Both men were separated from one another as soon as the tide changed.
Chavez used the lower part of his life jacket to wrap under his legs. "I floated out there all night and took naps as much as I could just to conserve my energy for the swim in the morning," he said.
Meanwhile, the Coast Guard launched a search for both men with four helicopters and a C-130 plane.
At sunrise, Coast Guard Petty Officer Michael Heazlit was aboard the C-130 plane Sunday morning when he spotted a bright, orange life jacket about nine miles southwest of Pokai Bay. A helicopter was dispatched to the location and a basket was lowered to rescue Chavez.
"I don't think I would have seen him had it been for his life jacket," said Heazlit. "That's what caught my eye."
Throughout the night, Chavez said he saw the Coast Guard searching for him and Mantz.
"They were probably about 200 yards off to my right," said Chavez. "It was kind of frustrating."
A short time later, Mantz was rescued by a fishing boat named Nani G. near the S buoy located about four miles south of Pokai Bay.
At first, the fishing boat passed him as he floated about 200 yards away. It then turned around and headed toward him when a fisherman asked, "Do you need help?"
"They grabbed me by the arms and pulled me over the side like a big marlin and plopped me on the deck. "I couldn't move anymore," said Mantz.
Both men thanked their rescuers for saving them.
The ordeal was something they never thought would happen. Mantz and Chavez said their naval training helped them survive the long hours they spent in the ocean before they were rescued. Both men, who work as hull technicians at the Naval Engineering Learning Site at Pearl Harbor were treated and released at Tripler Army Medical Center. Chavez, 28, has been in the Navy for seven years and is originally from Portage, Ind. Mantz, 39, has been in the Navy for 15 years and is originally from Center, N.D.