Ashville Boaters Save Life Of Ohio Man

John and Karen Finson bought a boat this year.

The couple has four children and decided they would start a new recreational adventure.

‘‘It was the second time we had it out (since it was repaired),’’ Mrs. Finson said. ‘‘We were out for maybe 15 or 20 minutes.’’

‘‘It was really a bad night,’’ she said. ‘‘It was threatening. We left the harbor and were just going slow up the lake. I said ‘let’s turn around’ and my husband found the boat doing funny maneuvers.’’

The boat ‘‘doing funny maneuvers’’ was a 20-foot, 200 horsepower bass fishing boat owned by David Gambone of Canton, Ohio. The vessel was going in circles at a high rate of speed, but the Finsons couldn’t see if anyone was in the boat.
Instead of just continuing on to the dock at Holiday Harbor Marina in Celoron, the Finsons decided to see what was going on with the boat. They could have easily just kept going, chalking up the boat’s antics to a crazy driver.

‘‘We thought somebody was being a hot dog and showing off,’’ Mrs. Finson said. ‘‘My husband wanted to get a closer look and he said he couldn’t see anybody in the boat. It was the eeriest feeling, thinking we were going to find a body.’’

They didn’t find a dead body. Instead they found Gambone. Struggling to stay afloat after nearly 45 minutes in the water, Gambone was exhausted. He was afraid and he was fighting for his life.

‘‘I became convinced I was going to die,’’ he said from his home, where he is recovering from injuries sustained in both the fall out of the boat and from being in the water so long. ‘‘I knew I didn’t have much strength.’’ Gambone was on the lake about 7 p.m. Monday evening. He and his brother, Christopher, spent the weekend on Chautauqua Lake participating in a bass-fishing tournament. They decided to stay for a couple of days and continue their fishing.

So, while Monday wasn’t the best of days for boating, fishing for two men who compete in tournaments was no big deal. Gambone and his brother were going to the boat ramp in Lakewood because they knew a boat lane had been cut through the weeds.

However, the rain and poor weather conditions stirred up the water and the pair couldn’t find the boat lane. To make matters worse, weeds were sucked into motor, which overheated. So Gambone used a trolling motor to get out of weeds and then dropped his brother off at a private dock. Christopher was going to walk about a mile-and-a-half to Prendergast Point, where they were camping.

He would help Gambone find a clear path to the dock.

About five minutes into his ride toward Prendergast Point, Gambone said the boat made a quick move to the right. Gambone only had one hand the wheel because he was reaching for a fishing pole. He was going about 58 mph at the time, he said.

‘‘Something went wrong with the steering,’’ said Gambone, who is a full-time fireman and paramedic, and sells high-performance bass boats part-time. ‘‘Whatever happened, it made the wheel spin out of control to the right. It literally happened so quick.’’

As soon as the boat jerked to the right, Gambone was thrown over the side of the boat. He said he skipped across the water before stopping, and the boat continued to make circles in the middle of the lake. The Sheriff’s Department Marine Patrol, which later was called to the scene, said the boat went in circles for several hours before running out of gas.

Gambone was wearing regular clothes under heavy-duty rain gear, which he said is the best money can buy and is very heavy. After being thrown from the boat, the rain gear pulled him under the water. He quickly tried to swim away from the boat while he was still wearing the rain equipment.

‘‘I had to swim as hard and as fast as I could,’’ Gambone said. ‘‘I thought the boat might cut me to ribbons.’’

Once he was far enough away from the boat, he had to take off the rain gear, which was pulling him under the water.

‘‘My rain gear pulled me under the water for a significant time,’’ Gambone said. ‘‘I thought I might die right there. After I got the rain gear off, I was just exhausted.’’

To try to stay above the water and regain some strength, Gambone laid on his back to float. However, his boat was a short distance away going in circles at a high rate of speed. It created waves that crashed over his face, making it difficult to breathe.

‘‘I alternated treading water and swimming toward shore,’’ said Gambone, who, from having fished on Chautauqua Lake for about seven years, knew he was close to the Cheney Farm, but about ¾ of a mile from shore.

Not having much success making progress toward shore, Gambone looked around, hoping for someone to be out on the water.

‘‘It was really kind of foul weather,’’ he said. ‘‘There were really no other boats on the lake.’’
Ah, but there was at least one boat on the water.

Gambone said he saw a dim light coming toward him from near the Cheney Farm. As the light came closer, Gambone was thinking that it couldn’t get to him fast enough. The Finsons, on the other hand, were being cautious. They didn’t see anyone in the boat. They didn’t hear anyone yelling for help. And they haven’t been on their boat much, so they wanted to make sure they didn’t injure anyone or damage the vessels.

‘‘It was just getting to be dusk and it was very hard to see him in the water,’’ Mrs. Finson said. ‘‘We thought he was in shock because he was being loud and boisterous. So, we threw out a line and he climbed up a ladder on our boat.’’

Gambone admitted to being out-of-line in his treatment of the Finsons. He called them Wednesday to say he was sorry for his behavior.

‘‘I wanted to apologize to them,’’ he said. ‘‘I was panicked. I was cursing and swearing at them. I wanted to apologize for what I did.’’

The couple had a cellular telephone and called 911. The sheriff’s Marine Patrol and a rescue crew from the Bemus Point Fire Department responded. They took Gambone to shore, where he was taken to WCA Hospital. He was treated overnight Monday for a bruised kidney and deep muscle bruises. Gambone was released late Tuesday and went home to Canton.

‘‘The story ended really good,’’ Mrs. Finson said. ‘‘We were in the right place at the right time. We were so excited because we had never done anything like this before. We couldn’t sleep when we got home because he was alive.’’ Gambone knows how important the Finsons are to him and his family. He is married with two children, ages 10 and 1.

‘‘They are the real story,’’ he said from his home. ‘‘They were in their boat, and they found me and rescued me. If they didn’t see me and rescue me, I would have died.’’

For Gambone, an experienced fisherman, the lesson in heroism from the Finsons is important. However, he said he learned an equally important lesson, one that includes always wearing a life jacket and having a ‘‘kill’’ switch attached to the jacket that will shut off the boat’s engine if an incident similar to his experience happens again.

‘‘We all know we are supposed to wear them,’’ he said of life jackets. ‘‘I would say 95 percent of the people don’t wear them and this is an example of something that could have been prevented if I was wearing one.’’

Mrs. Finson said she hopes the family never has to have an experience like the one on the waters last Monday.

‘‘He has a second chance at life now,’’ she said. ‘‘He feels it was God’s hand in it. We came along just in time…’’