Capsized boat at Dekle Beach saturday???

[Williamsdad]

Great advice BBG, especially for those who may not have read the account of the accident.

[Ifishtoo]

Yep, that whole experience off Florida's Central Gulf coast had bad decisions made before they ever set out.

A spare anchor, water separator cartridge, tool kit, duct tape, tie wire, nylon tie wraps, anchor with break away capabilities, some spare water, and on and on. None of these are required by the USCG. Nor is common sense.

[woopty]

Like BBG, I carry two anchors.
Have had to cut off a stuck one a couple times as weather was moving in.
No anchor and a north wind is a situation that spooks the hell out of me.

[Ifishtoo]

[quote="woopty"]Like BBG, I carry two anchors.
Have had to cut off a stuck one a couple times as weather was moving in.
No anchor and a north wind is a situation that spooks the hell out of me.[/quo

"A North wind", now that's a perfect example of lack of knowledge and/or common sense. Fishing for so many years has exposed me to lots of situations. It amazes me how many folks think nothing about fishing in 50', with 60' of anchor rope. Same goes for 200'. Travel out with a following sea and the "ponds shoreline will only getting farther away". Simple things that seem to just not register.

Below is a true tale, one that I seldom speak about and only with one of my old peers. He was there, too.

Once, an older gentlemen that I knew, asked me to go fishing and help him catch a box of fish. He'd seen that I was catching plenty of fish and he was not. We left around noon and the forecast was proving to NOT be accurate. He wanted to continue on out to 46 miles..... off Daytona/St Augustine. I had mentioned to him "that is where I caught my last catch". There were four of us on board his 32', twin inboard boat. It was very difficult to persuade him that we she should not proceed past 17 miles. We should anchor up on some fish and wait to see what the weather does. By midnight it had deteriorated a little more. By daylight everyone was happy to toss in the towel and we sloshed the 17 miles back home. I was surprised how reluctant that he was to accept "what appeared to be obvious".

He was a retired contractor and a few months later had some of his buddies visiting for a fishing trip. The weather was piss poor, but they had come to fish. I was not there, but I know they were his peers, older gentlemen from out of state. I suspect that they were not old salts. Sadly, that day back 1987, he and his three friends never returned. The Atlantic Ocean and 5-8', possibly 8-10' seas helped bring an end to the lives of four men that day. After days of searching, they only found a few remnants of the boat. There was a life ring on his fly bridge and that is one of the items that was finally recovered. He had painted the boats name on that ring.

At this moment, 26 yrs later, I am now the old man. I have never been able to put ole Mac out of my mind. I'll not mention his last name. He left a wife, some grown kids, and grand kids behind. I truly believe he was trying to impress his friends with a great catch and was headed out to my numbers....... 46 miles NNE of Daytona.

Did I mention he had a pilots license, owned his own plane, and flew back and forth to NY often.

[woopty]

Ifishtoo, you won't see me out there in a north wind...or if there' a chance of one.

[SS-342]

ACCIDENTS = HAZARDS PLUS PEOPLE

Take either one out of the equation and you fix the problem. I agree with Ifishtoo and woopty!

[charlie tuna]

Four visitors in the Florida Keys rented a 20 foot outboard for the weekend. They were planning on fishing at night on the reef. Not knowing where "the reef" was, they went out into deep water and dropped their anchor overboard figuring as they drifted back inside the reef, the anchor would catch. Their big mistake was tying the anchor off to the stern. As soon as the anchor caught bottom, the boat swung around from the ocean's current and water poured over the stern and flooded the boat! Of course the battery went out and they had no radio. All four hung onto the hull until we found them around 7:00 AM the next morning.

[Harmsway]

Sounds like first-hand knowledge to me, Charlie.

[charlie tuna]

Actually, all four were FSU students on Spring Break !! The water came over the transon so fast it swept the life jackets, coolers and fishing tackle boxes right out of the boat. As we were bringing them aboard, one of my buddies started humming that music heard in the "JAWS" movie. One of the guys didn't take it lightly?? He said, the entire night he was being bumped by fish and his first thought was "SHARK!!!

[Nambleman]

I called the marina and they said the boat was anchored off the stern. The boat filled up with water and rolled over.

Anchored off the stern???? How do people do that?

I saw an older man do this with a 26' center console at the jetties on the St. Johns River. I idled by and mentioned it to him. He looked at me like I was crazy. I ran on out and when I came back a coast guard boat was gathering the debris. I asked them what happened. They said the boat rolled and threw everyone out when the tide turned and started rushing out. The three on the boat survived by clinging to the jetties, but were badly cut up and bleeding when recovered. I've caught some huge sharks in that area. Almost makes you want to see a license requirement for boat operation.

Funny you say that. I dont know if you knew this, but if you were born on or after Jan 1st 1988 and are operating a boat with 10 hp or more, then you are required to take a boaters safety education course. After that you must wait a couple weeks to receive your boaters license in the mail. Only reason i know this is because i had to get mine last year, having been born in 1993 (young guy at 20 years .

I think this was a genius law! Must feel pretty bad going out on the water not having a single idea of the current laws, regulations etc.

[Harmsway]

. . . if you were born on or after Jan 1st 1988 and are operating a boat with 10 hp or more, then you are required to take a boaters safety education course. After that you must wait a couple weeks to receive your boaters license in the mail.

Yeah, good idea alright. But I gotta tell you, I took the 8-hour boating safety course with my son in 2008 when he was 14. I can't say that either one of us were overly impressed with the content. You can only hear so many times in a row to wear a PFD (not a life jacket) before your eyes start to glaze over. I don't recall any discussion about safe anchoring practices.

Don't get me wrong, I was really glad that my son and I had that experience together. We both learned something I'm sure, even if it didn't seem like it at the time.

But really, it was WAY too basic to meaningfully "license" a boater. I guess that's okay because you don't really get a boating "license" anyway. All you really get is a card certifying that you completed a Florida safe boating safety course. I guess a rose by any other name is still a rose.

I heard that, since then, the course is offered online. I hope and expect that the content is better these days.