Fred Olness and Carmalita to the rescue

F

forrest

New member
Here is a video of a fishing trip 3 of us made at Westport, while heading west to catch big fish. About 12-15 miles out we came upon a capsized boat with 4 guys hanging on. They had been fishing and took on water, then capsized. They had called out a MAYDAY, but were unable to give their position. We had not heard the mayday, but just happened to come upon them. We, Michael Brosseau, and Tom Roof were on my boat the CARMALITA. FRED


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kUerZpcQB8s


Fred sent this to me. I wasn't involved. Just thought you would like to see a C-Dory in a rescue.
Forrest
 
What lucky guys! I'm boggled that he kept filming throughout the whole thing. Great job. They were laughing but if you had not been there this could have had a bad ending.
 
I think they filmed it with the "Go Pro:Be a Hero" set up on one guy's head/hat/helmet. Does this make him a hero?

The boat floats bow up, inverted, like most do that are in that size class.

This is the way the C-Dorys float, when capsized, from the stories we have heard here on the site.

Might make someone think twice about cutting open the buoyancy tank under the v-berth in their C-Dory and removing the foam to make more storage.

Let's see: would I rather have __________________ (fill in the blank, your choice), or an intact buoyancy tank, adrift 15 miles offshore the Pacific Ocean and immersed in 55 degree water?
(Fill in the blank with 150 bottles of cold beer for a laugh!)

Glad they're safe!

Joe. :teeth :thup
 
I would be interested to know why/how they capsized. The water looks pretty calm for being offshore. How far out were they? It doesn't look like they were that prepared for going out as far as they did.

If they'd been stuck out there for another hour or so, it would have been bad news all around.
 
They were in a 22 foot Glasstron. They lost their plug. The boat filled with water and they were unable to start the big motor. The boat capsized before they were able to give the Coast Guard their position. They did send out a mayday but Fred did not hear it. They capsized 15 miles offshore. Fred was on his way fishing for upriver brights around 20 miles offshore and just stumbled upon them. They're just lucky guys. Anyway, C-Dory to the rescue. Fred has a really nice 22. I don't know if he is a member of this site. By the way, Fred is a really good fisherman.
 
Another great save by the C Brats!

I see a couple of things we can all take away--one is not to capsize...OK.
The second is for at least--and best--for every crew member to have a water proof VHF radio attatched to our life jackets, and at least one PLB on the EPIRBf.

Also having some piece of line--even paracord, you could string thru or or clip onto the bow eye of the overturned boat, which would allow the crew a better hand hold/grip on the overturned boat. Where were the pocket flares and smoke markers?

Just some food for thought, on items we carry in our vests.
 
I was walking the Westport docks on Friday and stopped to admire the "Carmalita." It's a very nice, well kept boat. Looks like a serious fishing machine.

Nice job with the rescue!

Agree with Dr. Bob about lessons to be learned. For me, its life vest on, not just "out of the bag." Still, having them at hand is certainly better than having the vests stowed away somewhere. However, from their description of the capsizing, things happened so fast (don't they always!), they didn't have time to grab anything other than the vests.
 
Well that was fun... they all seem to remain calm even given the extreme danger they where in and that is half the battle right there. They were very lucking that a cdory came along and found them. Upside down and hanging to the bow to the same way I found two people a few years back in the sound. The people I found where in far worse shape due to the cold water and weather in jan.

We carry pop up flares, whistles and knives in all of our vest. Looking for a hand held vhf now.

I also want to restate how important it is to have a AUTO bulge pump in any boat that you can not stand in the back of and see the bulge. We talk about the "What do you do once in the water" but over look why the hell were you in the water to begin with. Both this boat and the one I found upside down would never have been up side down had the owners installed auto bulge pumps. Neither boat was swamped by large waves or punched holes in the hulls. Both took on water thru ports into areas they could not see. If either boat had had a auto pump they would have at least been made aware of the problems far sooner and most likely been able to do something about it. So how is your pump working today????
 
Aside from wondering how they "lost" their plug One guy made a telling statement about how he tried to grab the"red box with the flares" but things went so fast he couldn't get it. That reinforces Tom's point about carrying signalling devices on lifejackets. At least they had lifejackets.
 
Sea Wolf":2ccuuyea said:
This is the way the C-Dorys float, when capsized, from the stories we have heard here on the site.

Might make someone think twice about cutting open the buoyancy tank under the v-berth in their C-Dory and removing the foam to make more storage.

Let's see: would I rather have __________________ (fill in the blank, your choice), or an intact buoyancy tank, adrift 15 miles offshore the Pacific Ocean and immersed in 55 degree water?
(Fill in the blank with 150 bottles of cold beer for a laugh!)
Click to expand...


V-berth buoyancy or not, quite a few Brats carry an inflatable on the roof. It is not just for taking fido ashore for a pee, it is your life raft in emergency. Even if there is no time to launch it, it will act as a buoyancy aid for our size of boats. I do not go out on the water without the inflatable onboard. Yet looking through our albums, a lot of us do!

Martin.
 
for those of you that have survival items "on your vest", what kind of vests are you carrying? we have a plethora of safety equipment on the boat, but I'm always looking to upgrade. I do not have portable VHF though, I like that idea.
 
Good question about what safety gear to carry on your life jacket? Mine does not have pockets, so I'm also interested to see what ideas others have come up with. I have a "ditch bag" but it may be better out in the cockpit rather than buried under my helm seat.
Beginning of this season I bought a portable Standard Horizon HX290 floating marine radio, cost $100. I like listening to the marine weather forecast at home before taking the boat out. I also take it with me on the boat in case of electronics failure or emergency abandon ship.

Martin.
 
bridma":38vzmp6v said:
I have a "ditch bag" but it may be better out in the cockpit rather than buried under my helm seat.
Beginning of this season I bought a portable Standard Horizon HX290 floating marine radio, cost $100. .
Click to expand...

I'm thinking both of these items could be given very nice mounts in the cockpit for easy grabbing. I like this thread already.
 
Dustin, I used to hang my portable vhf from one of the rocket launchers so it was handy while fishing. I do think it would be a good idea to have some flares on your person in case rescue is needed. A ditch bag could be affixed out in the cockpit area to come loose and float by you if swamping occurred. The marine vhf also has the emergency red button that transmits coordinates of your vessel, if it is wired to a gps. Yours does when the portable gps is inside the cabin. Ron
 
digger":23wby15u said:
The marine vhf also has the emergency red button that transmits coordinates of your vessel, if it is wired to a gps. Yours does when the portable gps is inside the cabin. Ron
Click to expand...

I thought I bumped it one time when I was at home, 40 miles from the water cleaning and had everything turned on. I hear "Coast Guard, what is your location?" :disgust They were talking to someone else apparently but I was trying to figure out how to justify the CG call in my driveway.
 
The way I understand it, if you have a mmsi number they will call the listed phone number first before commencing a search.

Bill Kelleher


DuckDogTitus":bnf9116h said:
digger":bnf9116h said:
The marine vhf also has the emergency red button that transmits coordinates of your vessel, if it is wired to a gps. Yours does when the portable gps is inside the cabin. Ron
Click to expand...

I thought I bumped it one time when I was at home, 40 miles from the water cleaning and had everything turned on. I hear "Coast Guard, what is your location?" :disgust They were talking to someone else apparently but I was trying to figure out how to justify the CG call in my driveway.
Click to expand...
 
I think this is a good topic and I will repost in a new thread as well.

http://www.c-brats.com/viewtopic.php?t= ... highlight=

We all have PFDs but it may be a good idea to equip those PFDs with a few pieces of gear. Get clever and don't be shy about tying a few things on being careful not to interfere with the workings of a self inflator of course.

We have a ditch bag accessible as well but in the back of my mind is that "all the eggs in one basket" problem. I have seen folks get in real trouble when that caught up with them.

So here is what we carry on/in our PFDs.

Greg's:

-VHF radio
-Knife
-2 aerial flares
-1 smoke signal
-whistle
-water activated strobe
-LED flashlight
-floating PLB

Cindie's:

-Knife
-2 aerial flares
-1 smoke signal
-whistle
-water activated strobe
-LED flashlight

Aven's:

-whistle
-water activated strobe
-LED flashlight


I use a Cabelas flavor auto inflating vest that has a single chest pocket. That was not enough storage for me so I added a small Eagle creek zippered pouch that is tethered below my vest with 1/4 inch shock cord loops and a stainless clip on one side to easily remove the vest and leave the pouch attached.

http://www.c-brats.com/modules.php?full ... _photo.php

In the vest pocket is a waterproof floating PLB (resQlink+) and attached to that zipper pull is a loud whistle. Also attached is a water activated strobe and small LED flashlight.

In the pouch is a small waterproof VHF radio (Cobra MR HH125). This is only a 3 watt model but is small and better than yelling. Small and floating are not very complimentary so I sacrificed the floating part.

Also in the pouch are 2 aerial flares and 1 smoke signal and attached is a fixed blade knife hanging ready to be pulled for use.

Cindie carries her flares and a smoke signal in a pouch on the rear corner of the waist strap of her auto inflater.
 
I have the Standard Horizon HX851 handheld in my ditch bag. The HX851 is floating, submersible, 6 Watt, and has a built-in GPS. Since it has built-in GPS, it has DSC functions.

If I understand correctly, the guys in this thread radioed a 'mayday' but didn't have time to give their position coordinates before the boat capsized. This emphasizes the importance of having some form of GPS in / on your emergency gear (ditch bag / PFD).
 
Back
Top