Strega 43 - Woody Ormsby - Fun Coast Charters
Doug Heise ripoff! False advertising! Lousy boat!

We reserved a 8 hour fishing charter on a boat named the Strega 43, which advertises on its website (strega43.com) that it is fully tournament rigged, has an air conditioned salon, and offers a big game sport fishing adventure with southern hospitality at its finest. The boat and service did not live up to those claims and we were very disappointed with the trip.

We booked the boat, through Douglas Heise at Fun Coast Charters, with the expectation that the boat was equipped to catch large fish and that there would be air conditioning. The air conditioning was extremely important as it was expected to be in the mid 90's and we were taking my mother and father in-law, both in their late 60s and in poor health.

My mother in-law is overweight and suffers from emphysema & diabetes and had stated prior to booking the trip that she would not go unless the boat had air conditioning. We left the dock at 6:30 am and it was cool enough then but when we were about 30 miles offshore and temperature was reaching 93 degrees we requested that the AC be turned on. The first mate, Nick, told us the boat never had AC. The Captain, John Eskew, stated that the AC was being repaired. This was not mentioned prior to leaving the dock and my mother in-law had a hard time breathing and suffered a mild heat stroke.

The vessel was far from fully tournament rigged as it was missing one of the two outriggers and the fighting chair was missing the foot rest. A fighting chair is useless without the foot rest as you cannot generate any leverage if your feet are in the air and cannot be planted firmly. Therefore, if we had hooked a large fish we did not have a chance of bringing it in. We realized that the chair was not complete after leaving the dock and noticed the foot rest portion when we returned as it was left near the dock. Either it was broken or the crew left it since they did not expect to catch large fish on this trip.

The missing outrigger reduced our chances of catching fish while trolling by 50%. We lost several weights while bait fishing and the mate stated that there were no more left. It seemed that tackle was in short supply. The crew also failed to chum the water when we bottom fished. This is a standard practice to entice the fish and get them into a feeding frenzy. It did not seem that the crew was very interested in us catching fish.

As for Southern Hospitality at its Finest, our Captain did not even introduce himself when he boarded. He did not tell us about the boat or himself or anything for that matter.in fact, it was like pulling teeth to get him into a conversation as most questions were answered with a short yes or no. I tipped him 15% up front but regretted that later.

Other things that we noticed after boarding was that the boat was in a very poor condition with exposed plywood walls glued together, a oven with rusted over burners, and it had an overall dirty look especially at the head and galley. The first mate instructed us not to put toilet paper into the toilet as it will clog it. He told us to throw any toilet paper into the ocean which is probably illegal. I did see used toilet paper floating by us as we fished and it was not a pleasant site.

When we inquired as to where the life jackets were kept, since the crew failed to mention this, we were told that they were upstairs. Several of us did go upstairs on the top deck where the captain steers the boat, and there were no life jackets in sight nor storage areas that would hold them. Apparently, the life jackets were not even on board.

One last item that kept us worried was the captain checking the engine compartment several times during the trip. That compartment is accessed through a hatch in the middle of the non-air conditioned salon. He stated that the gauges by the steering wheel upstairs were not accurate.

I notified Doug Heise at Fun Coast Charters of the problems after we returned on that same day and he said he would look into the matter. Fun Coast Charters is the booking service for several boats in that area. I called Mr. Heise again on June 1 and he stated that he visited the boat and confirmed our story.

He noted that he was very sorry about this and did not realize that the boat was in that condition. He stated that he has dropped the Strega 43 from his list of available boats and does not plan to book the Strega 43 again until a significant amount of repairs are completed. I have spoke with the owner of the boat, Woody Ormsby, on June 1 and we are unable to resolve the matter.

We do not feel that the trip or boat lived up to its advertising. Visit the website Strega43.com to see the flase advertising. We also have video that shows the interior, exterior, missing outrigger & incomplete fighting chair if that is necessary. Therefore, we request a full refund.

Ray
Tallahassee, Florida
U.S.A.

Company: Strega 43 - Woody Ormsby - Fun Coast Charters
Country: USA
State: Florida
City: New Smyrna
Address: 111 N. Riverside
Phone: 8776156606

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