SENTENCING STATEMENT

RICHARD OBA

MAY 18, 2007

Words cannot express my sorrow that William Harris, Paul Turner, and my dear friend Ginger Strelow lost their lives that evening. I never intended to place their lives at risk. Such a risk was the furthest thing from my mind that evening. As the various exhibits have shown, I did not know that the area where the accident occurred was restricted or dangerous that night, especially since I had observed boats waiting or fishing in the same area until they reopened the bar. However, I did steer my boat into an area proved to be dangerous. That act caused their deaths. There is nothing I can say to their families to bring their loved ones back. I can only say that I am deeply, deeply sorry. I have had to face the consequences of my actions every day since then, and I will be living with those consequences for the rest of my life.

To Mr. Parker, I apologized to you in the hospital the night of the accident. Again I am sorry that I have caused you any hardship. I only hope that you will come to realize that I did everything possible to save your life once we were thrown in the water. To the families of William Harris, Paul Turner and Virginia Strelow, I am sorry that my actions have caused you pain and loss.

I accept that I am guilty of having been negligent. While I take full responsibility for that, I also want to say that I did not consciously, maliciously or deliberately place my passengers and myself in harms way.

What led to this tragic accident was a 12-hour tuna fishing trip. Twelve-hour tuna trips were among the fishing trips that I loved to do. Our business was unique among all the charter boats in Oregon in that we offered a six-passenger experience instead of a crowded charter boat for long-range fishing trips. That day we went to the tuna fishing grounds 50 miles offshore to the northwest of Winchester Bay.

Mr. Turner, Mr. Parker and Mr. Harris came aboard at my slip, which is right across from the Coast Guard station. I gave them my standard safety briefing when they boarded. This briefing is very much like those given by the airlines, and it is one that is given at the beginning of every trip. In the briefing, I talked about the operation and the location of the boat's safety equipment, including how to don the lifejackets, the location of the EPIRB, the life ring, life raft and the operation of the flushing marine head. I talked about what to do if there was a man overboard, and I demonstrated how to put on a life jacket and where they are stored. I also stressed that passengers were welcome to put on the jackets at any time during the trip. We then went to the fuel dock, where Ginger joined us. I then went over the briefing again. I remember this because I told the men to be careful in the marine head so they wouldn't make a mess for Ginger, and I always discussed the marine head as part of my briefing because we were one of the few 6-pac boats to have one.

Throughout the day, the ocean conditions were good. Despite the fact that the ocean was flat with a small rolling groundswell and the tuna were jumping all around us, fishing was slow. We caught two tuna. Just before 4:30, I called the Coast Guard to check the status of the bar. I used the cellular phone because Station Umpqua's VHF radio did not reach out that far and the cell phone usually was more reliable. They said the bar was closed. I told the passengers about my call and said we would have to go to Coos Bay. Once we reeled up, I plotted a course for Coos Bay by traveling southeast toward the coast, then south along coast to Coos Bay. I thought this was a safer way to travel because It allowed me to have quartering winds for less of the run to shore then tailwinds for most of the trip to Coos Bay. I also knew it would be getting dark by the time I reached Coos Bay and wanted to be out of the shipping lanes and going along the coast where I could use lights and other visual bearings, which would be safer. Knowing that conditions at the Umpqua River entrance could change and that the tide change that evening would be around the time I would pass Winchester Bay, this course would give me the opportunity to stop at Winchester Bay if conditions improved and the bar reopened.

At 5:18, I called Sidney and discussed making arrangements for the passengers to be shuttled from Coos Bay back to Winchester Bay. Because we had only caught two tuna, I said that we should offer the passengers a $100 gift certificate for a future tuna trip. Usually, we caught around four to six tuna per passenger on our tuna trips.

At 7:10, I called the Coast Guard again to check on the status of the bar. This was almost two hours later. At that time, the groundswell that I observed earlier in the day was gone and the ocean was flat, which suggested to me that conditions at the Umpqua River bar should be improving. I was told again that the bar was closed, and I still planned to go to Coos Bay.

Shortly thereafter, at 7:14 pm, I received a call from my wife. She said she had just finished talking with Jim Schrack, another charter boat captain in Winchester Bay, and that Jim had told her that the conditions at the bar were improving. At this point, I didn't have enough information to change my plans, so I was still thinking that I would have to go to Coos Bay. At 7:15 p.m., I called Steve McKeon, a friend who lives in Coos Bay over the boat basin, about docking at Coos Bay.

At 7:22 pm I spoke directly to Jim Schrack. He said the Umpqua River bar was improving and that he hadn't seen the Coast Guard send a boat out to inspect the bar since 5 p.m. He also told me where it would be safest to cross if the Coast Guard reopened the bar. Finally, we talked about the possibility that I would still have to go to Coos Bay, and he said he'd help pick up my passengers. I had a lot of faith in Jim's assessment of the bar. Jim knew weather and ocean conditions. He was a former 747 pilot of some 30 years, grew up as the son of a charter-boat captain, worked for his dad as a deckhand as a kid, and became an operator of a local fishing guide service. What he was saying was also consistent with the calm seas that I was seeing at the time. Based on what he told me, I decided to adjust my course slightly and approach the Umpqua River entrance in the hope that the Coast Guard would reassess the bar. I called my wife, Sidney, at 7:35 and told her my plan. I also told Mr. Parker, who was on the bridge, of my plan. At the time, I believed this was a safer course of action than proceeding directly to Coos Bay. If the bar was passable as Jim was telling me, I thought the Coast Guard would reopen it. If that happened, I could avoid a nighttime run to Coos Bay and crossing the Coos Bay bar in the dark.

At 7:39, I again called the Coast Guard and told them of the conflicting reports I was receiving. They gave me exactly the same bar report they had given before, which made me wonder if it was current or accurate. I then talked with Jim Schrack again at 7:42 p.m. and asked Jim to see if the Coast Guard would reassess the bar if he went to the station and asked them to do so. In the past, I had asked another captain, Alvin Gorgita, to go to the Coast Guard station to make the same kind of request, and the Coast Guard agreed and ended up reopening the bar for me to cross.

My phone records show that at 7:47, the Coast Guard called me again. Again, they told me the bar was closed, giving me the same information. They didn't tell me whether they had talked to Captain Schrack, so I tried to call Captain Schrack again to discuss this call but was not able to get through. However, right after this failed call, another person called out on VHF radio channel 22 as River's End Guide Service and said that he had watched the bar for several hours and it was flat and I could come in. At this point, I was only a few miles outside the Umpqua River entrance and still observing good sea conditions. The captain who called me on the radio confirmed what I was seeing on the ocean and what Jim told me. So I decided to stay on course until I heard from Jim again.

At about 8:10, I received a call over the radio from Patrick Sullivan, another charter captain in the harbor. At that point I was about 1.5 miles Northwest of the U-buoy. Sullivan told me that he had fished the bar earlier in the day and that it became funky. I took his commentary as an explanation of how the bar had become became dangerous earlier in the day. I didn't think his information was as current as Jim's. He never told me unequivocally that the bar was not passable or that I shouldn't even approach the area outside the bar. Much has been made of Sullivan's statement that I said: "The bar looks fine to me." This is not what I said. How can one see an intersection from a mile and half down the road? What I did say was "IT (meaning the ocean) looks fine to me."

At 8:18, Jim Schrack called me back and said the Coast Guard was unwilling to check the bar again. He was very upset and said that Halstead had been extremely rude. I told him I had no choice but to go to Coos Bay, and we talked about his helping to pick up my passengers. I told him I would call him when I calculated my estimated time of arrival in Coos Bay. I then called the Coast Guard at 8:21 to tell them I was proceeding to Coos Bay. I did not call them to argue about keeping the bar closed; I called because I wanted them to know where I was going for safety reasons. I did not argue with and I did not hang up on them. All the phone calls were made on an older analog cell phone. As soon as I got off the phone, I started to turn the boat south. Right then, the wave hit, causing the boat to immediately sink to the deckline.

When the wave hit, it was a total shock. I believed I was in an area outside the red can that was considered safe. I didn't think that I or my passengers were in any danger. I had crossed the Umpqua River bar over 500 times and I believed this area to be far enough outside the bar that even if waves were breaking along the bar, I believed they would not be breaking anywhere near where I was. This area is not marked as dangerous on the standard chart for the area or in my onboard navigation system, which used the standard chart. It's also not marked as hazardous in the Coast Pilot or the Special Notice to Mariners, which I kept on my boat by law. I'd also seen other boats in the area, even when the bar was closed. I did not know I was in potentially restricted waters. And I wasn't seeing anything that caused me any alarm at the time. What I observed was a calm sea with a slight wind. I could hear murre birds. I didn't see or hear anything to make me think I was in danger.

This also explains why I didn't have my passengers put on life jackets. Had I believed any of us were in danger or if I was going to do a night bar crossing, I would have asked everyone to put on life vests. Any time I thought there would be a potentially rough crossing I had my passengers don life vests. That's my standard practice. This also explains why Mr. Parker and Mr. Harris were on the fly bridge with me. The fly bridge is a difficult place to stand, and I do not allow passengers on the fly bridge in rough waters. The waters were calm enough to allow Mr. Parker and Mr. Harris to remain standing on the bridge.

As to my having a floatation vest, I wore one as part of my uniform. I always put it on with my boots, slickers and jacket. Those items of work were on a coat hook by the cabin door. I always thought that if an accident occurred, it would be like the oxygen masks on the airlines. They always say don yours first and then help others. And I had my crew wear one also because we were the most likely to fall in the water as we were running lines, gear and operating the boat from the flying bridge. Not having a captain or crew to run the boat far out to sea would be crazy.

I know the Coast Guard has made a lot out of the July 11, 2005 meeting that I attended. There were many items on the agenda (22) and the discussion of the restricted waters was probably first. I can see from the attendance sheet that I was there and that I came late, but I don't remember the boundaries of the restricted waters being discussed even as I stand here today, and I certainly didn't remember it on the night of the accident. If I knew the area I was in was dangerous, I would not have gone there.

Everyone hopes that their life will end on their terms. Even those stricken with terminal illnesses fight on to live as long as their lives will last. To have your life end tragically not by your own choosing is probably the worst possible outcome. There is nothing that I can say or do to earn the sympathy of those affected by the loss of Ginger Strelow, Paul Turner, or William Harris. Their lives were ended by the events of September 19, 2005. I was the Captain of the vessel that sank, taking their lives. For that I accept the awful burden that my actions lead to their deaths.

If the families of the deceased are unable to extend to me Christian forgiveness, then all I ask of them is the understanding that I did not maliciously or willfully cause their deaths. I believed at that time of the wave striking the boat that I was acting in the best interests of the people aboard the SYDNEY MAE. As you have heard today, multiple decision-making points were made and remade during the voyage. In hindsight some of them were erroneous. I relied on my best judgment and others' as to the physical world of that day. Obviously I was wrong. As has been said many times before, I would give anything to change the events that occurred that day.

Your Honor, for me carrying the knowledge that three people died under my care will always be with me. I believe in self-redemption. I have attempted to live a life of service to the community and my coworkers, many of whom were in the court on the previous hearing and today. You can ask any of them if Richard Oba ever asked anything extra ordinary for himself. The more than a hundred letters of character to you attest to that service. Now I have a greater redemption to fulfill, a redemption that will be worthy of the creator of us all. Their voices, faces and what I knew of their lives will be carried in my heart every day that I live, and in respect to them, I will work to make our world a better place for the rest of my life. I am truly sorry for the loss of William Harris, Paul Turner, and my friend Virginia Strelow.

Your Honor, I hope that you will consider these facts in sentencing me. I am not a young man; nor is my wife a young woman. She is all I have left. Our parents are gone, and we have no children. I have suffered and will continue to suffer for my decisions on September 19, 2005 for the rest of my life. I have given up my mariner's license, my profession and my passion. I have lost almost everything that I worked a lifetime to earn that night by losing the lives of others, my boat and trying to resolve this case. I understand that I will spend time in prison for my conduct and must accept that. I only ask that the Court impose a lenient, fair sentence that reflects my lifetime commitment to the communities that I have served, my moral conduct, and respect for others.