Missing Molokai fisherman Ron Ingraham cheated death last year, surviving 12 days alone at sea on his disabled 25-foot sailboat after a storm blew him hundreds of miles off course.
But Ingraham reportedly disappeared Friday off Lanai after the vessel he was on capsized.
Commercial fisherman and friend Dedric Manaba said he doesn’t think the 67-year-old Ingraham will be coming home — his first time out since the December ordeal. "He’s a tough old guy," Manaba said. If he survives, "it would be a miracle."
Ingraham had gone fishing for opakapaka with commercial fisherman Kenny Corder on Corder’s fishing vessel, Munchkin, said Manaba, who spoke with Corder on Friday. The Coast Guard reported the 34-foot boat capsized about a mile west of Lanai, and got a mayday call at 12:12 a.m.
A Coast Guard helicopter crew from Air Station Barbers Point plucked Corder out of the water at 3:20 a.m. He was taken to Maui Memorial Medical Center in good condition.
Corder told the Coast Guard Ingraham was not wearing a life jacket.
Manaba spoke at length to Corder, who shared the details of what happened.
They were just off Lanai and pulled up anchor. "They started their run home to Kaunakakai, following the coastline a little too close," Manaba said.
"When the big wave came, (Kenny) tried to get out of it, but when they caught the big wave, it broached the boat. It spun them around, and the second wave came and threw them on the rocks backwards."
The engine compartment was full of water, so the two jumped into the water and floated off the rocky shoreline.
"They swam out a little bit to avoid getting pounded on the rocks," he said. "Each of them had one arm in a life ring" and the other arm grabbing a wooden item, he said.
Corder told Manaba that he noticed the red light on the Emergency Position-Indicating Radio Beacon 20 feet away, so he swam for it.
"Within 20 seconds Ron was already gone," said Manaba.
"I guess he let go," he said, his voice catching.
Manaba said Corder guessed the waves may have picked him up and put him on shore.
Corder is "really shaken up," Manaba said. "During all of this, his Bible floated up. He had the Bible in one hand and an EPIRB in the other hand. He had a sense of hope, but he had to let go of the Bible and floated around for three hours until the Coast Guard came."
Manaba called Ingraham’s son, Zakary, in Missouri on Friday with the news.
"He’s just hanging on to hope, but it didn’t really set in yet," Manaba said. "He said his dad likes to run away for a while and maybe that’s what happened. I said, ‘I don’t think so, buddy.’ But I said, ‘Yeah, who knows. Maybe he’s on the rocks someplace."
On Nov. 27, Ingraham disappeared and made his first mayday call. The Coast Guard and Navy ended a five-day search Dec. 1. The Coast Guard then received another mayday call Dec. 9, and Ingraham was rescued by a Navy destroyer 64 miles south of Honolulu.
Ingraham said storm winds blew him hundreds of miles off course, south of where rescuers were searching for him. He said his GPS gave him incorrect coordinates, which he relayed on his first mayday call.
He survived on raw fish he caught and used a coat hanger and wire to fix his radio, he said.
Last year’s "incident brought them (father and son) together," Manaba said. The two had been out of touch since the 1990s.
Manaba assisted with the reunion, picking up Zakary Ingraham from the airport and bringing him to the harbor to surprise his dad.
"I pulled up, and he walked out to my window and his son got out of the back of my truck," he said.
"Ron said, ‘Hey, how’s it going?’ I said, ‘Good, good.’ He looked at his son and said, ‘Hi, I’m Ron,’ and he shook his son’s hand."
"I said, ‘That’s your son.’"
"He said, ‘Wow, that’s my son!’ It was a good reunion for the two of them," Manaba said.
On Friday, Katie Jarrett, Zakary Ingraham’s girlfriend, said she got the news from Manaba.
"I think he’s (Zakary’s) pretty worried," said Jarrett, who had texted him from work with the news. He’s probably going through "all of the emotions from the first time," she said.
