3 Saved After Boat Capsizes at Sea : Rescue: Coast Guard pulls men to safety after their fishing boat is swamped by 8-foot swells off Newport Beach.

Three fishermen clinging to boards and fearing shark attacks were plucked by helicopter from the icy waters of a stormy Pacific Ocean on Wednesday, one hour after their 68-foot boat capsized in punishing eight-foot swells and 30-knot winds off Newport Beach.

“There was a time we thought we wouldn’t make it,” said 21-year-old Kelly Green, a crew member of the Capaz, after the rescue. “We were sitting out there on those boards, bobbing up and down, with no one and nothing else in sight. It doesn’t get much closer than this.”

Green, his friend Mark Schones, and owner and skipper Steve Shipkey were returning about 4 p.m. from a six-day trip aboard the commercial fishing vessel based in Newport Beach when heavy seas covered the boat about 15 miles offshore.

In an interview, Green and Schones said they were asleep in the galley when they were awakened by Shipkey’s screams. The Capaz had been overtaken by a storm caused by a low-pressure system that moved into the California deserts Tuesday night, according to the Coast Guard.

“A swell hit us and filled the deck with water,” said Schones, 25. “The boat became heavy on one side. Then right after, another swell hit us and the boat began filling up. Steve was on the radio (to the Coast Guard). He was also yelling to us, ‘Get the life raft! Get the life raft!’ ”

Shaken from their sleep, Green and Schones said they managed to inflate the raft but could not cut it loose. “I couldn’t find a knife,” Green said. “And I didn’t have much time to look because the boat was going down fast.”

While the crew members tried to loosen the raft, Shipkey gave the Coast Guard their location.

“He was shouting ‘May Day, May Day, May Day,’ and just when the Coast Guard asked how many people were on the boat, we were sinking faster, and he had to dive out.”

Green was the only one who managed to grab his life jacket. Green and Shipkey climbed aboard a piece of what had been the deck of the Capaz, loosened by the pounding swells. Schones mounted another.

“We had to paddle away from the boat because we were scared that it would topple on us and suck us in when it went down,” Green said. The men stayed on the boards as the disabled boat and its debris drifted away. In the meantime, eight-foot waves driven by 30-knot winds covered the floating pieces of board. “We had to stick our head up when the waves went over us,” Schones said. “We would be hit by a big one, and then as soon as we lifted our head above the water, another one would slam straight in our face.”

After about 20 minutes, Green said the trio spotted a freighter that was heading toward them.

“I took off my life jacket and waved,” he said, explaining that the vessel was some distance away. “I thought they saw us. But then all of a sudden, it changed direction. I said, ‘Hey, what’s this? Don’t leave us here.’ ”

The next 45 minutes were “sheer mental torture,” Green said.

The Capaz was laden with a catch of blue marlin. Both men said they feared sharks would pick up the scent of the catch and attack.

“There was shark out there, all right,” said Green. During the fishing trip, “we would lower our catch in the water to keep it fresh. When we hoisted it up, there were large chunks missing . . . shark-bite sizes.”

The fact that Schones, a five-year veteran fisherman, is nicknamed “Shark” did not help. “We had to yell to talk to each other,” Green said. “So Steve would yell ‘Shark! Shark!’ and I would look around and say ‘Where? Where?’ ”

Pounded by the icy waters and chilly winds, the men paddled around to keep warm. About an hour after they jumped from the sinking boat, they received the first real hope that they would be saved. Two planes flew in their direction, but apparently did not spot them on the floating boards, Green said.

Helicopter Arrives

The planes disappeared.

But a few minutes later, a Coast Guard Dolphin HH-65 helicopter arrived in the vicinity of the now-capsized boat. The helicopter circled around the boat and debris that floated about 100 yards away from the survivors.

“They didn’t see us,” Schones said. “After Kelly waved his life jacket, they came our way.”

The survivors grabbed a basket lowered from the Coast Guard helicopter, which took them to John Wayne Airport where paramedics waited. The men declined medical treatment. Green’s only visible injuries were skinned knees, while Schones said he was not hurt.

Shipkey left the airport before he could be interviewed by authorities.

Coast Guard Petty Officer Dennis Ramirez said two patrol boats, a Falcon jet plane, one 41-foot rescue boat and the Dolphin helicopter joined in the search.

“A 600-foot Israeli vessel called the Zimi Beria heard the May Day call first and was standing by to help,” Ramirez said.

At last report at dusk, the Capaz was still afloat in about 50 feet of water but capsized, Ramirez said. Swells are expected to decrease Thursday, according to weather forecasts.

No other distress calls were received Wednesday, according to Ramirez, of the Long Beach office of the Coast Guard.

Wrapped in blankets but still shivering, Green and Schones sipped coffee as they related the incident to Sheriff’s Deputy Ron Harvey at the airport’s fire station Wednesday.

Schones said the ordeal hasn’t made him give up fishing. He said he will leave next week to begin a new fishing job in Kodiak Island, Alaska.

Green had other ideas.

“I’m going to go home, drink a beer, hug my girlfriend, and think of another profession.”

Times staff writer Dan Weikel contributed to this report.