'It was scary,' rescuers said of fatal Manasquan Inlet boat capsize

Two men died, but five others were rescued after a pontoon boat capsized at the mouth of the Manasquan Inlet on Friday afternoon.

MANASQUAN -- To boaters, the Manasquan Inlet is often a welcome sight, a refuge from the challenges of being at sea.

But on Friday, a perfect storm of conditions converged to make the inlet deadly for two men who were thrown into the ocean along with five others when their boat capsized. New Jersey State Police identified the two victims from the pontoon boat as Alex Osadchy, 66, and Grigory Klokishner, 74, both of Philadelphia.

The calamity was witnessed by many who happened to be out on the water that relatively warm day after Thanksgiving, including surfer Alex Barlow and commercial fisherman Jim Freda, who like many others there, rushed to the aid of the stricken men.

"It was treacherous. It was scary. It was hairy." That's how Freda, who's owned the commercial fishing operation Shore Catch for years, described the conditions Friday afternoon as he was headed back from a fishing trip with two clients.

Freda said he'd often seen that pontoon boat in the same spot, but didn't know anything about it or about the men on board.

But he said he knew getting back into the inlet wasn't going to be easy. With a full moon, an outgoing tide and large swells, Freda said he knew the trip through the mouth of the inlet could be dangerous, and that he would have to time it just right between those swells to get back safely to the dock.

7 pulled from ocean after pontoon boat capsizes at Manasquan Inlet

"The current was ripping, jacking up the front of the inlet," he said.

Jim Freda (Shore Catch Guide Service) 

On his way in, Freda noticed the pontoon boat that carried the seven men. It was just north of the inlet off the beach in Manasquan where the men were fishing.

That's where Barlow also saw the boat. For the 45 minutes he had been surfing, the pontoon was about 35 yards from him, he said. Then it disappeared.

"I caught a wave and as I was paddling back, I saw it wasn't there anymore," said Barlow, a 25-year-old freelance artist from Point Pleasant Beach.

That's because the pontoon took a one-two punch from big waves, said Freda, who was behind the doomed vessel as it was trying to go through the inlet. The first wave knocked the boat sideways, the second one pushed it over, Freda said.

"That boat went over like it was in slow motion," he said. "Everybody was in the water."

That's when Freda, Barlow and dozens of other boaters and surfers sprang into action and headed for the men, some of whom weren't wearing life jackets, they said.

Freda said he and his two clients, Bill Gorski and Mark Laprete, immediately plucked one man out of the ocean.

Then he set his sights on another man, who seemed not to be moving much. That's the same man Barlow headed for on his longboard, followed by surfers Chris Rooney and Rob Rupp.

Barlow said the man was barely talking and hardly moving. He had to take the man's two arms, throw them over his surfboard and shove the board under the man.

"His body was basically in shock due to the cold water," said Barlow, who like the other surfers, was wearing a wetsuit to keep warm.

Alex Barlow (Facebook) 

Barlow, who's also had lifeguard training, said he knew that in 53-degree water, the men's bodies would soon go into hypothermia, threatening their lives.

The man, who could only gasp out a few words at a time, mumbled something that sounded like "I can't help," as he was being hoisted into Freda's boat, Barlow said.

The boaters and surfers grabbed the man by the belt loops of his pants and hoisted him over the side of the 28-foot sport fishing boat, they said.

"It felt like an eternity, but it was like maybe two minutes," Barlow said of the time it took to get the man on board Freda's boat.

Because of the man's condition, Freda said he knew he couldn't stay to help rescue more people, so he took off with the two victims aboard and headed for the Coast Guard station on the other end of inlet, where scores of ambulances and police cars were waiting.

"I wanted to make sure the one person didn't go into cardiac arrest and kept breathing," said Freda, who also is beach manager in Sea Girt.

Freda and Barlow said there was a bit of luck involved in Friday's rescues. That day Barlow just happened to use his longboard, which could better accommodate an incapacitated person. And that day a lot of boaters happened to be around because of the striped bass run.

But Freda and Barlow said Friday was also about their lifeguard training being put into use at the same time a bunch of good Samaritans also took action.

"It was scary," Barlow said, "but...everyone was doing their best. It was nice to see at the end that everybody pulled together."