Fisherman owes his life to one man and the Harbor Patrol

For 36 years, Robert Machado was a commercial bait fisherman. His career ended suddenly after the A.C.E., Dana Point’s 58-foot bait boat, capsized and sank off the coast of San Clemente in 2005.

Thanks to Ed Westberg, who spotted one of the emergency flares, Harbor Patrol deputies located and rescued Machado and his crew. As the 10th anniversary of the accident approaches, Machado talked to Weekend.

Weekend: Do you still think about the accident?

Machado: Not a day goes by that I don’t think about it. We came so close to dying out there. Without Westberg and the Harbor Patrol, we wouldn’t be having this conversation. We got very lucky.

Weekend: You went back to work pretty quickly. What was your mindset?

Machado: Honestly, if Buck [Everingham] hadn’t laid me off, I probably would have resigned. After losing the boat, I lost my passion for the sea. I sold all my gear and walked away. Sometimes I regret it, but then I think back on the 20-hour days. Or I’ll be in the market buying fish for dinner and think, ‘I’ve never had to buy fish in my life until now.’

Weekend: After your brother Joe died last year, Buck took your family out on the Cougar to help scatter Joe’s ashes. It was the first time you’d been on a boat out at sea for almost a decade. What was it like?

Machado: It was pretty cool. Instinctively I just knew what needed to be done, and I think it opened up some eyes, like, ‘Wow! Here’s this 60-year-old man who still knows his way around a boat.’ [Laughs]

Weekend: On the same trip, you and Buck had a chance to talk. How did it go?

Machado: It was the conversation we should have had after the A.C.E. went down. I thanked him for the opportunity and apologized for losing the boat.

—Scott Marshutz