Coast Guard racing clock to find missing Florida teens

Coast Guard search and rescue teams and a Navy destroyer were racing the clock Monday to bring home two boys missing in the vast Atlantic since they left South Florida in a 19-foot boat three days ago as stormy weather approached.

Petty Officer Mark Barney told USA TODAY the primary search area was moved to an area north of where the capsized boat was found Sunday, 67 miles off Daytona Beach. The search area now continues to north of Jacksonville, which is 90 miles north of Daytona and 250 miles north of the boys' home in the Jupiter area.

"The Gulf Stream is a pretty powerful current," Barney said. "But we have quite a few people searching, and we hope we can pull this off."

Authorities said Austin Stephanos and Perry Cohen, both 14, were last seen about 1:30 p.m. ET Friday in the Jupiter area buying 28 gallons of fuel from the Jib Yacht Club and Marina. They were reported missing less than four hours later, after thunderstorms producing high winds, big waves and heavy rains had struck.

A commercial fisherman heading for safety said the teens were the only ones going out to sea.

“I said to myself, ‘Those kids are crazy,’” Jim Dulin toldThe Palm Beach Post. “There’s no way they couldn’t see that storm. The storm was really black, the temperature dropped and you could tell it was going to be a really mean one.”

The Coast Guard found the boat late Sunday morning off Ponce Inlet, more than 180 miles north of where the teens cast off. A rescue swimmer lowered from an MH-60 Jayhawk helicopter confirmed the registration number.

The boat was not damaged and one life jacket was found on board, authorities said. The Coast Guard anchored the boat where it was found for retrieval later. The agency released a video showing the boat bobbing upside  down in the water; a diver reported some details such as the cover missing from the motor.

"That's not what you want to hear -- that the boat capsized," Austin's  mother, Carly Black, told WPBF-TV. "You want to hear that your boys are on the boat."

"We're experiencing the same roller coaster of emotions," said Pamela Cohen, Perry's mother, seated next to Black. "Not even on an hourly basis. I think it can be minute by minute."

Barney would not speculate on how long the boys could survive if they were in the water. They may have improvised a flotation device from life jackets, the missing engine cover and a white plastic cooler, according to a Coast Guard flier.

But Barney dismissed reports that they boys had set out for the Bahamas, saying they were sufficiently sea-wise to know they didn't have the supplies required for such a journey. Although the two boys frequently fish together in the Jupiter Inlet area, they were not prepared for an extended ocean outing, Barney said.

"We can only go with what we know as fact," he said. "We really can't speculate at this point as to what happened out there."

Marina manager Joey Krizka told the Palm Beach paper that the boys' had only $109 for the $122 of fuel they pumped. Krizka said they pulled out their phones to call their mothers for more money, but he told them to pay up next time.

“Now I kind of wish I would have let them call their mom,” Krizka said. “If I’m the last one to see them, maybe they would have not been where they were at.”

He, too, said he doubted they intended to head to the Bahamas, a trip they had made with their families several times, because they "didn’t have any supplies.”

With four fishing poles and a cooler, Krizka said, they likely were just going fishing as always in the Intracoastal Waterway or offshore.

By midday Monday, the Coast Guard had searched more than 25,000 square nautical miles, Barney said. A Coast Guard HC-130 airplane, the cutter Paul Clark, the cutter Sawfish and the Navy destroyer USS Carney continue to search for the missing teens.

Barney said the Coast Guard appreciated the offers of help from private boaters but said the agency discourages that type of involvement for safety reasons.

The search effort prompted NFL Hall of Fame quarterback Joe Namath, a neighbor of one of the boys, to offer a $100,000 reward. Namath said he hoped the appeal for information could help the search. He told reporters on Sunday that the boys are both skilled boaters.

"We've got to believe in their wherewithal," he said. "We'll keep on looking until we find them. We're all praying. ... The good Lord's gotta help us out."