Missing Boaters - NFL Players

I guess we can all speculate.

4 fairly big guys.. Maybe they all moved astern to snag a fish and a wave boarded the boat. If they were drifting, most likely the boat was drifting stern-to.
Engine trouble is always a possibility..No VHF?? With a single engine experiencing problems, they're stuck.

50 miles is a pretty good distance to venture offshore with impending weather and seas approaching. Maybe they thought they could beat the weather back.

This is a situation where an EIRPB would be invaluable. At 50 miles,(If indeed they did go out that far) would be out of VHF and cell phone range.

We'll all hope while we can..If they have water and life jackets, they can drift for a long time..
 
50 miles out in a 21' CC and not with a buddy boat? If if the weather forcast was OK that's still pretty far out for that size boat. Even wearing a vest they are still out there prety long in NASTY seas. Hopefully there will be a good ending to the story.
 
Seems family says they were all familiar with safety, but i wonder if they were familiar with weather. 50miles in a 21 ft boat is long run as it is pushing that boat to its limit, but with a known weather change pushing through the area, not the best decision. Flare and life jackets are great, but out that far an Epirb is a must!!

Hopefully there is a miracle and this crew is found, hate to see any boating tragedies. Prayers are with the families!!
 
The report I heard was they talked to the survivor hanging onto the boat.
Apparently they were anchored, the boat capsized and the 2 NFL guys couldn't hold on and drifted away. Fortunately, they were all wearing lifevests.

The CG was continuing search procedures, hoping to find them before exposure becomes a factor.

Let's all hope for the best.. Rough seas has hampered the search so far.
 
This is a very tragic and sad incident, and I pray for their safety and their families.
But we should all take this accident to heart to remind us of the unforgivingness of the ocean, and not to Monady morning quaterback, but to look at safety steps that we should take to help our survival in such an accident.

-21' foot boat loaded with 4 large men 50miles off shore, is a littlte past my confidence level, or rather trust of the ocean to not have a siginifigant change in conditions during the time of the trip. Up here in the N.E. she can turn on you mighty quick, and I imagine as well down there.

-50 mile trip off shore in any of our boats on this website, we should alll let somone know our trip plan. When we plan to depart, our planned course, and what time we should be expected to arrive in port.

-I agree an EIRPB is a must when venturing that far into the ocean.

-I dont know if they had a VHF, but God that is a must on the ocean, not matter how far you go, and if you are always going far, a spare radio is cheap insurance if it goes down while off shore. When I buy new ones, I always store the old one on the boat as a just in case spare.

-Its never happened to me, knock on wood, but if it kicks up while out 50miles and its natsy and scary, I would defintley use that radio to broadcast and my coodrdinants and conditons and keep in contact with somone as a precaution to update my status.

-When the Captian with others lives in your care and things get nasty, put the over-confident pride in the back pocket, and put humble safety at the helm. Seems kinda obviuos, but Ive been on boats with those who's cocky pride was far greater than their experience, and they took chances that could have been disaterous. I did not return to his boat ever. Ive also witnessed a 40' Sportfisher capsize right before my eyes one time in Florida. A cocky young lad was trying to impress his friends on "daddy's" boat when hammering through the break water on a rough day leaving Hillsboro Inlet. He hit hard at an angle, and she came out of the water and rolled, he was moving too.

Again I'm not critising the tragic accident, just pointing out some things we should remind ourselves before, and keep in the back of our minds before we head out this season.

I have been going out on the ocean since I was a lad, yet I dont let myself feel over confident underway, you cam learn somthing everytime you set out.

Please add some safety tips that we can do everytime we go out. They may seem obvious to some, but not to others. And it may give a new to boating (and veteran boaters) members some knowlege they have yet to aquire.

When it comes to safety on the ocean I'm always ready to listen.

May God bless those boys in the Gulf and pray for their families.
 
I take my boating just as serious as I do when I was flying.

I always have a dockside brief to point out where the life vest are, how to put them on, how to work the radio, how to run the boat enough to get her back close to our starting point, and if you see something, smell something, or hear something that you are not sure about LET ME KNOW. I try and have a second pair of eyes topside with me when underway. Lastly I am a fair weather boater. I check the Weather Channel and local weather sources to see if they jive on the forecast. I also check the NOAA website as to what to expect out on the water. They have been wrong a few times but nothing outlandish…yet. I do have an EIRPB and VHF. I hope to purchase a life raft in the very near future. I also have strobe lights on the vest and one for the boat that has a 400 ft line on it. I hope I NEVER have to use any of the safety equipment. Like Tbone said…all of the above safety gear is important. But when you have a cocky captain who plays the odds and who doesn’t respect the weather or the ocean then it is just a matter of time before you hear about them being another statistic.

A short but true story about flying, about 15 years ago a very good friend of mine decided to attempt a short hop over to Manteo with his family one afternoon to have an early dinner and then come home. The weather forecast that day was predicting severe T-storms for the evening. That afternoon a massive T-storm started building over the Albemarle Sound. I got a call from my friend and he was asking how the weather was back at E.city. From were I was I could see a huge anvil building over in that direction. Told him it wasn’t looking good and not to try the return flight home. That was the last time I heard from him. He loaded up his family in the plane and took off. Somewhere over the sound he got into that storm and it slapped his plane out of the sky like a gnat. The plane was found a couple of days later in the sound. THAT incident was burned into my brain as to what Mother Nature can do if you attempt to challenge her.

I hope that the other 3 guys are found alive.


HD
 
You can't expect to be able to hold onto the boat for days. You have to tie yourself off with enough room so you don't get pounded.
 
Grog, that is true. You gave me an idea :idea: to make a few 20ft lines with quick clip ends that float. In an emergency, if possible you could link each other together, and possibly to the boat if the sitiuation permits. It will at least give you the chance to remain together with out drifting from the others. :?:
 
Search was suspended at sundown by the Coast Guard.
They apparently think there's no chance of anyone still floating on the surface,.
All good safety points made here. The only thing I can add is what I stated earlier in this thread..They were out of VHF range more than likely, out of cell phone range and had no EIRPB.
If they had a serious boater with them he/she would've smelled out this scenario as too dangerous and they would all be safe.


There are two slightly differing reports. One says the boat flipped while at anchor. The other says the boat capsized while they were retrieving the anchor.
I think the fact that the boat was anchored made it more prone to capsizing. In really big seas it would've taken away the natural tendency of the boat to drift with the seas,making it harder for the oncoming wave to board the boat.
With the boat anchored and immovable, a sea could come over easier, and possibly the anchorline would've pulled the bow down as it became taut allowing the wave to come over and in.

I mention this only as another thing to think about. I have never heard of anyone anchoring in hazardous seas..Throwing out a sea anchor to keep the bow into the wind, yes, but not anchoring...

I can't imagine and don't want to think about how their families are
feeling..
 
magicalbill said:
Search was suspended at sundown by the Coast Guard.
They apparently think there's no chance of anyone still floating on the surface,.
Click to expand...

You can bet if one of them was a Kennedy, they would still be out there!!!
 
The July issue of the BoatU.S. magazine has a short piece about this written by Bernadette Bernon.

Here is an excerpt:

.... “According to the recently released accident report, their anchor got stuck in the coral, and they tried to free it unsuccessfully. In a last frustrating attempt, instead of cutting it free and heading home, they tied the anchor to the stern and thrust the boat forward. It flipped, tossing the men overboard. They retrieved life jackets from under the boat, put them on, then tried to set off flares, but the flares were already soaked. They had cell phones in water proof baggies, but no reception. They tried to right the boat by using their combined weight, but couldn’t make it work. The men huddled together, holding onto the overturned hull, trying to keep warm through the night. The next day a front came through. The wind and seas built.”......

The boat was a 21 ft Everglades.

We do a lot of anchoring here around Catalina Island, and I thought this should be posted as an FYI.

Take care ya’ll.
 
KingJ said:
The July issue of the BoatU.S. magazine has a short piece about this written by Bernadette Bernon.

Here is an excerpt:

.... “According to the recently released accident report, their anchor got stuck in the coral, and they tried to free it unsuccessfully. In a last frustrating attempt, instead of cutting it free and heading home, they tied the anchor to the stern and thrust the boat forward. It flipped, tossing the men overboard. They retrieved life jackets from under the boat, put them on, then tried to set off flares, but the flares were already soaked. They had cell phones in water proof baggies, but no reception. They tried to right the boat by using their combined weight, but couldn’t make it work. The men huddled together, holding onto the overturned hull, trying to keep warm through the night. The next day a front came through. The wind and seas built.”......

The boat was a 21 ft Everglades.

We do a lot of anchoring here around Catalina Island, and I thought this should be posted as an FYI.

Take care ya’ll.
Click to expand...
I read it as well. Now I know what happened. A anchor and some line is not worth it. They should have cut the damm rope. NFL players and loaded with $$$. Thats the price you pay when you play out in the middle of the ocean. Makes me sick.
 
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