what do you do?

rasbury

Terrible news over @Handymans342 's way, a sailboat with a dad and three teens apparently sank in bad weather...tried to load the story but so much crap adds loaded...did not appear anyone was even wearing a vest as one body has been recovered. Six foot waves in the gulf is huge fir where they were at....how, other than go straight into a storm do you control your boat if the waves are two high to go the other way? Some of you have small ships but there is a limit for us all. The worst storm I was ever caught in was over in the same area but that was a straight line type storm burst. Maybe the kids had vest and will be recovered.  

Black_Diamond

There is amost no reason for a sailboat to go down in 6' waves. No lifejackets on: just dumb. Sorry. 

Had 2 16 yearolds flip a RIB on Sunday, screwing around. No wearing lifejackets. 1 got picked up by a passing boat. The othe one will wash up in a few months. Totally preventable. 

Black_Diamond

To answer your question: bow into the wind and ride it out. I've been in 8'+. Not so fun. lol

NavyCTRC

I got caught in one of Florida's famous pop up major thunderstorms, I had 6-7 footers in the bay while it was raining so hard you couldn't see 5 feet in front of the boat.  The really bad part is that my port engine had just thrown a belt, so I was limping back in on one motor as it was.  I watched the storm on radar as it came in and overtook my 7-8mph speed.  All I could do was like BD said, keep the bow into it and I'd blow my horn every minute or two in hopes anyone else out there would hear me coming.  By that time the storm had completely wiped out the radar returns, all I could see on radar was land about 4 or 5 miles away.  At one point a wave hit me almost abeam and it literally turned the boat about 20 degrees.  I was taking white water into the cockpit, both bilge pumps working overtime to keep up.  I wasn't really scared since I knew it would pass soon enough, but it scared the crap out of the Admiral.  As a kid, we got caught out in Lake Erie once, that was scary!  But after many years of sea duty and qualifying on the deck underway of a destroyer, I have a profound respect for the sea, and I have the stories to go with it.

EDIT: I did get our life jackets out, Admiral put hers on, I sat on mine with one leg under the strap.  I figured if I got thrown over, the jacket would at least come with me. 

chamberb

Latest news story said they have found the life jackets floating... No excuse. 

Black_Diamond

A sailboat can easily handle most reasonable storms. Reef the main boat will point into the wind and hold all on its own. That is why they use a drogue too. 

aero3113

They are saying the body that was found had a life jacket on.

chamberb

That's good. Very sad story. 

LaRea

The reports say the boat was "not in the best of shape" and they were moving it to do some work on it.  They were live-aboards ... four people living on a 29-foot sailboat.  I wonder if they were living there by choice, or out of economic necessity.  

Liberty44140

Agree with BD's comments. A sailboat will generally handle a storm better than us as most of their weight is in the keel. I've been caught in many a 50+ mph wind storm on sailboats on the great lakes, Caribbean and Bahamas and always put her in to the wind and ride it out. ALWAYS have lifejackets on in any kind of weather. First thing we do when the wind hits 20 mph+ is pull out the bag of vests. I've been considering buying a PLB, prices have come down a lot. 

rasbury

how the heck do you drown with a life boat on? I guess as some point, your just going to sink I suppose...if your in the gulf and a westerly story is coming in, you can't make it to TX and surely your heading into worse weather as you progress- I'm a river and intracoastal boater and don't fish so would not ever go out that far, The area they are in, depending on how far they were out is very shallow which may have been a problem if they were blown toward shore. I had heard that the life vests were found in a debris field....very sad ending that could have been prevented, at least the death toll anyway.

aero3113

Hope dims in search for family off Florida's Gulf Coast after body found

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2016/06/23/hope-dims-in-search-for-family-off-floridas-gulf-coast-after-body-found.html

LaRea

The boat "did not have a name or a radio" which tells me they had absolutely no business being 30 miles offshore.  

Black_Diamond

Wow: no radio, no boat name, probably missing other safety gear and 30 miles off shore?  Disaster in the making.  Lots of bad choices there.

I wear my inflatable lifejacket when I am underway, always.  Kids under 18: lifejackets always or no ride.  Heck my dad wears one! 

I keep looking at those PLB's too, prices are really affordable, just clip on your lifejacket or shirt.  I rent the EPIRB from Boat US when I do long trips on Lake Mich (Chicago, Northern trips), better than buying and nice peace of mind that if it activates the USCG is out pronto looking for you via GPS.

Trashman

What a shame.  Here in philly I see more and more people living on their boats out of necessity   All in poor condition.  One I know of is a family. 

raybo3

Its very sad but there is also no need for it. Take precautions and be safe. I do not leave the dock unless the weather is perfect. Why take chances?????

LaRea

I'll go out in bad weather, but only because I have a well-maintained boat with twin engines, radar, chartplotter, two mounted VHF radios plus a handheld, and other safety gear.  The victims had none of that.  They were 30 miles offshore with nothing but a cell phone and a handful of wimpy near-shore "keyhole" PFDs.  

TonyWalker

As is typical in such sad events, the boat was found floating and well.

rasbury

your kidding Tony! They were washed overboard and drowned with life vests on?

TonyWalker

Their boat was found by the Coast Guard floating and well.  Of course we do not know how they all wound up overboard.  It must have been one wild sea!  There is a long history of boating accidents where the boat stayed seaworthy and the crew was not able to take advantage of that.  

rasbury

I don't fish- I have absolutely no desire to go off shore-except for a run to the bahamas and that for me would take considerable research on my part before i'd do it. People do that on jet skis though....well very sad and would seem unnecessary for some folks that would appear down on their luck a bit. I have VHF but would want back up for that plus better navigation equipment before I'd be 30 miles off shore. 

TonyWalker

My post above was in error.  I thought they found the boat because the Coast Guard had a photo of it.  But it was a file photo.  The boat is still missing.

Black_Diamond

Found a mast, the dad now too, search has ended. Completely preventable. 

rasbury

God bless their souls...

LaRea

Preventable with even the slightest planning and forethought.

Tonight, while anchored with friends, the Admiral and I were sharing sea stories about the many boat rescues we've made over the years.  We were ready to haul anchor when we happened to notice two guys in a capsized canoe in the middle of the bay.  They were about 10 minutes away from spending the night floating in the river.

My buddy collected them and towed the canoe back to the rental place.  Those guys were, of course, totally unprepared:  soaked cell phones, no radio, no air horn, no way to signal for help.  Just like the sailboat on the Gulf coast.

Guys, any kind of recreational boating has risks.  It's all about risk management.

frodo13056

So sad but as others have mentioned, this was probably completely preventable. Back around 2002 when I had my 2000 Rinker 272, a sudden squall on southern Lake Michigan kicked up 6-7 footers. Got out the life jackets for everyone on board and it was quite the ride for about 45 minutes. I just kept the bow pointing towards the oncoming waves with the boat just above idle speed for most of the time - occasionally throttling up / down to keep waves from coming over the bow when possible. Very unnerving being in the troughs with nothing but walls of water on each side. Had my radio on channel 16 and heard multiple distress calls and Coast Guard responses. Turns out that 6 sailboats capsized about 10 miles east of my position. I did have life jackets / flares but no hand held radio. After that incident I now keep a McMurdo grab bag (ditch bag) handy whenever I'm out. I keep whistles, a hand held VHF marine radio with built in GPS, flares, mirror, etc. in it at all times and take it with me when I take the dinghy out and even take it with me when I take my kayak out on the lake. 
It certainly pays to be prepared.

06Rinker270

@LaRea why two mounted VHF radios? 

raybo3

I dont go out in bad weather. What's the point of that? The only time my boat leaves a dock in bad weather is if its time to go home from a trip and the visiting marina can not keep us another night. IMO no point in putting yourself in harms way....

LaRea

Two radios for redundancy.  (And some other, less important reasons.) 

06Rinker270

Understood.  Its those who prepare that stay alive.  Very sad to hear about the family.  I take these situations to understand and learn from what happened and to make my boating that much more safe.

Does everyones handheld have DSC?  

Black_Diamond

My marine radio on board has DSC, neither of my handhelds do though.  Just remember, if you do not register the DSC and get a number, it is useless.