Phoenix lobbyist rescues Mexican fishermen
The Arizona Republic
By Hal Mattern
Jun. 7, 2007 11:31 AM

If this lobbying thing doesn't work out, Doug Cole could always consider a career in marine rescue.

Cole, an executive with Phoenix public affairs consulting firm HighGround Inc., was on a fishing trip in the Sea of Cortez, off Mexico's Baja California peninsula, with four friends recently when he decided to take a morning spin on a WaveRunner.

He was searching for fellow fisherman Art Haynie, who had taken a small boat out earlier. Cole spotted a boat far offshore and headed in that direction.

"But as I got closer, the boat got bigger and bigger, and I thought, 'That's not Art,'" Cole said.

It turned out to be a pongo, a Mexican fishing boat, with two men and a boy on board. "They were jumping up and down waiving something yellow at me," Cole said. "They were beet red, pretty raw and ragged."

Since he was more than two miles offshore, Cole was understandably leery of the men, but he eventually was able to figure out that they were stranded, so he towed their boat to a nearby island and then headed back to land for help.

It turned out that the two men and the teen had gone out fishing the previous evening from their ranch on Baja, encountered engine problems and spent 14 hours drifting on the ocean with no food or water. One of them, Saul Trujillo, said he thought they were going to die.

Cole and his companions towed the men 25 miles to their beachside ranch, where they joined them in some celebratory Coronas.

"In the four and a half days we were out there, we only saw three other boats, so they might never have been found," Cole said. "I'm just happy that I was in the right place at the right time."