Friends: Boaters were returning from clam bar

The operator of the powerboat that crashed off Seaford on Sunday night, killing three people and injuring four, was heading home to Copiague from a Freeport restaurant and fish market when he made a navigation error that he was trying to correct before the impact, two close friends said Tuesday.

PHOTOS: Powerboat crashes off Wantagh

Those and other new details of the events leading up to the accident were provided by Jim Feynman, a longtime friend of George Canni - the boat's operator - and Joe Logiudice, another friend who heads Hustler Powerboats in Calverton, which made the boat.

Feynman, who has talked to the survivors, said the group had gone to Braccos Clam & Oyster Bar on the Woodcleft Canal in Freeport before stopping next door at the fish market to buy lobsters to cook at home. He said he did not know whether the group ate or drank anything at Braccos.

Employees at the restaurant and Captain's Ben's Fish Dock said Tuesday they did not remember the group.

Nassau University Medical Center upgraded the conditions of three survivors Tuesday from critical to stable, a spokeswoman said. A fourth patient, identified by a friend as Deborah Sugamele, will be released from ICU as soon as a bed on a regular floor is available.

The survivors are Sugamele, 50, of Massapequa, who suffered neck injuries; Tom Sulori, 48, of Massapequa, who had fractured vertebrae in his neck; his wife, Laura, 54, who suffered head injuries; and a man from Farmingdale who is 54 and fractured both legs.

The crash killed Canni, 65; his wife, Theresa Maniaci-Canni, 46; and Sugamele's husband, Joseph, 50.

As Nassau police investigate the accident, Logiudice said he got his information from friends and relatives of the survivors being treated at NUMC.

Logiudice said Canni had "done that [route up Great Island Channel] a hundred times. They lived right there. They weren't going fast. I don't think they were going much over 40 miles an hour."

The 40-foot Hustler Classic, named Uncanni, came to a stop about 100 yards from the edge of the channel atop Goose Island at about 7:15 p.m., its stern about 10 yards from the water. The boat cost about $400,000, is equipped with twin 420-horsepower diesel engines and has a top speed of about 65 mph, Logiudice said.

"I really believe that the full moon kind of threw him off base," Logiudice said. "It looks like he just got a little bit to the right of where he was supposed to be. From what I've heard from the people on the boat, he realized he was to the right and tried to turn to the left." But before he could get back on course, the boat hit the island.

"It seems they were thrown out of the boat sideward and they landed on marsh, which is hard," he said.

Nassau police Det. Lt. Kevin Smith said, "We have been talking to the survivors, but we're not going to substantiate any stories that might be out there right now. There are no autopsy results yet and our investigators are still going through the boat."

Police said the boat traveled under the Goose Creek Bridge on the Wantagh Parkway "at a high rate of speed" before heading northeast and crashing more than a mile from the span. The channel under the bridge normally has a 5 mph speed limit but it is now closed because of a construction project. There is no speed limit in the channel by Goose Island.

A wake for the Cannis, who are survived by two sons, Todd, a Washington, D.C., lawyer and George, a resident of Florida, is scheduled for Thursday and Friday from 2 to 4 p.m. and 7 to 9 p.m. at Massapequa Funeral Home, 4980 Merrick Rd., Massapequa Park. The funeral Mass is scheduled for Saturday at St. Barnabas Church in Bellmore with burial at Pinelawn Memorial Park.

Arrangements for Joseph Sugamele are pending.

With Sophia Chang, Chau Lam and John Valenti

PHOTOS: Powerboat crashes off Wantagh