A safety plea

[thataway]

This is the post I just made on The Hull Truth: Yes, our C Dories are probably safer than Bayliners and ever Boston Whalers. But emergencies can happen to any boat. Have a safe Labor Day weekend.


This last week, two boats were lost or missing off the Gulf Coast. One was a Bayliner 23 which broke up and one person died, with one saved and one still missing. This boat was only 9 miles off Dauphin Island and had no VHF radio. The other was a Boston Whaler 31', which was headed out 72 miles from Pensacola Pass and back, with only the skipper aboard on his birthday. The Coast Guard called off the search after 3 days, including going 160 miles out to sea, with a 87 foot cutter and two aircraft.

The plea is for everyone who goes offshore-- to have a EPIRB or PLB, as well as at least a water proof hand held VHF radio, plus some form of life raft. Even an inflatable with CO2 bottles if you cannot "afford" a raft. Best to have an EPRIB on the boat, and a PLB, waterproof VHF radio and strobe light on at least one person if not every crew member.

Other safety precautions are use of the lanyard for the helms person, or at least one of the remote stop systems. A buddy boat, and a good float plan are also highly recommended.

For about $ 350 one can obtain a PLB, hand held VHF, and strobe, which will vastly increase your chance of survival. A life raft will make survival even more likely.

This is not a judgment of of these boats and their skippers, but a plea to avoid other tragedy.
The Gulf Breeze man with the Boston Whaler was a skilled boater and mechanic, and left a young family.

 

[BrentB]

Thanks Bob

"to have a EPIRB or PLB, as well as at least a water proof hand held VHF radio, "

If buying these items today or near future, what would you buy?

I dont have any of these

 

[localboy]

It's the "it will never happen to ME" mentality. Sad; what a waste.

 

[JamesTXSD]

Last Monday, I was out on a "search", checking for two couples in canoes when the wind kicked up. I found them, they were fine - all were experienced paddlers, so I called it in and said they'd be fine. The response from our office was that I needed to go north on the lake to tow in a boat that had experienced an electrical failure and was blown ashore. They had no VHF, but managed to get a cell call out before their battery died. 4 adults and 1 infant. They had no idea where they were, and had no one who would be looking for them when they didn't come back. It was an ugly 2 hour slog back through the waves. They were all in t-shirts and swim suits; no water onboard, but plenty of beer. I suppose they could have walked onshore, but they were miles from any civilization. In bear country.

People often don't think about a PLB or a VHF on inland lakes, much less a float plan. This is an 80 square mile lake where conditions can get snotty fast.

We had MOB and fire drills on the cruise boats this morning. Last week, I had a discussion with a Park Service guy who is establishing standards for boats operated by vendors within the parks. We already have to meet USCG and DOI standards, next thing we will be dealing with are Homeland Security specs.

Lots of things to consider before you head out on the water.

 

[thataway]

An update. The boat was found Wednesday off the coast of the Yucatan. It had the range at 8 or so knots and the time frame to make that. Speculation is that the owner fell overboard, and the boat was on auto pilot. This happens more often than we would like to think. A man fell overboard off Panama City a couple of years ago and he was close enough to swim to the beach. The boat showed up near Mobile pass several days later.

The tragedy is that this man has a wife and two young children. A remote stop lanyard, or an inflatable life vest, with a PLB/VHF/Strobe would have probably saved his life.

The press messes things up. The Mexican paper related this boat to some smuggling of Cubins to the Yucatan, and the Pensacola Paper mentions pirates 100 miles off the Florida Coast. Both of these are very improbable.

Jim is correct--and we take our PLB in the dinghy or Kayaks, as well as when we hike, and have it in the RV/toad when driving in remote areas. With the newest generation of satellite communicators--such as the Spot Messanger and the In Reach,Delorme products etc. You can have another option of communication for help.