Growing up on the water, Larry Toomer said, one learns how quickly danger can become real. On Sunday, the Bluffton mayor faced that reality. After getting surprised by a snapped cable and a rogue wave a quarter mile off the coast of Hilton Head, the Bluffton mayor found safety in beaching his shrimper “The Red Baron,” just north of Coligny Beach. Only he and another crew member were onboard for the white knuckle ride.
While dragging for shrimp offshore Sunday morning, the cable lifting the shrimp catch from the water snapped, shifting the load to one side of the boat. In the same moment, a wave twice the size of others they had seen that day came over the back of the boat, submerging the stern and forcing emergency measures.
The instincts of a fourth-generation waterman kicked in. Toomer pointed the Red Baron west, and went full throttle straight toward the beach. The boat was slowly sinking the entire way, and they hit sand just before the motor died. Family members, friends and other beachgoers came to the mayor’s rescue as the word got out that he was having trouble.
Other than a few bumps and bruises, the two men on board made it back safely. The episode reminded Toomer that Mother Nature can throw curve balls at any moment. If the boat had sank in deeper water, he said, sharks would have been drawn to the hobbled boat’s fresh catch and then the crew.
More than 50 years on the water
Harvesting the local waters is quite literally in Larry Toomer’s blood. Toomer comes from three generations of commercial fishermen. His great-grandfather moved to Hilton Head in 1913 to start a seafood business. More than a century later, the tradition continues.
“It’s always been my livelihood. It’s how I feed my family. It’s who I am. It’s what I do,” he said.
As an eight-year-old Toomer started oystering on his family’s boat on his own, always within his parents’ sight. By 12, he ran his family’s crab boat, pulling up 100 crab traps by hand each day. By 15, he was captaining the shrimp boat. Now at 65, he and his wife, Tina, own Bluffton Oyster and Toomer’s Seafood Restaurant on the island. When he isn’t conducting mayoral duties, he is out on the water, doing what his family has always done best.
“I have an appreciation that I’ve been able to make a living and and provide for my family. I’m not getting rich and never will and don’t expect to, but being able to do what I love and what I know how to do is all I need,” he said.
Toomer spoke on the phone from the Broad Creek Marina, where he was picking up parts for the Red Baron’s damaged engine. “Lord willing,” the shrimper will be back out on the water in a week.
Source Agencies
