Sport Boat Sinking Story

[Mark Mc]

This is worth the read:

link to allcoast web story

Another reminder as folks get excited about halibut & tuna this year......

[ 02-24-2003, 04:38 PM: Message edited by: Mark Mc ]

[Birdnest]

That is impressive. I am glad all were ok.

Lately I have been shopping for electronics. Concerning radios, I just decided on spending the extra $$ for the feature that broadcast your coordinates and a mayday with one buttom.

[Pitch Pocket]

Check out Lou Shinen's story on PacNWSalt :
Lou's story

This happened Saturday 2/22/03.

It's no fun to swim in the ocean this time of year.

[ 02-24-2003, 07:51 PM: Message edited by: Pitch Pocket ]

[skein]

This is pretty good stuff to read. We all need to know it can happen, and how fast it can go down (pun intended).

Practice, anyone?

My wife's a pretty good boat-handler, so the last time out we did a "man overboard" drill just for fun. We used the anchor float, not yours truly. Come to find out, she had a heck of a time getting the boat in a position to pick up the floater. She'd do what "seemed" right, but it would swing the boat away from the float, not into it. It was a great way to demonstrate and practice the dynamics of a rescue operation in a non-threatening way. (Lots easier than with someone floundering around yelling - in real trouble.)

We'll do it again next time out, and see how she does. She's a pretty sharp little blade and I suspect she'll be right on top of it this time. At any rate, it's a drill that may pay off big-time someday.

I also intend to practice fire-fighting. I know, I know, this isn't the Coast Guard boot camp, but you just never know....

Skein

[Albacore Tuna Captain]

Murphy's law: If it can happen, it will!

The more you spend at sea, the better the chance something can happen and you best be prepared for it. I have worked at sea enough time to have experienced three fires at sea, five heart attacks (customers not mine)numerous broken bones (again not mine) cuts bruises and one boat sinking.

The point being that if you don't take a proactive approach to the possiblity of catastrophe at sea, you will not be prepared for it and could lose it all.

I own a charter boat and fortunately the Coast Guard does annual inspections to insure my vessel is safe for sea. But I take the added precaution to go beyond what the minimum requirements are. And one of the most important is to be able to de-water. I have five pumps in my engine room that can pump a lot of water.

Nuff said.

[Mr. Fisherman]

Mark, any updates/findings on that boat that went down in California?

[Mark Mc]

Hi Ray, the only info I have is whatever is being added to the post / thread linked above. I just checked and there is no new info, just lots of speculation. They would have to retrieve / salvage the boat to know for sure, and it isn't clear that this will happen. The only clues are:
(1) boat had several through-hulls put in by a shop recently; and (2) boat had a constant-flow bait tank, so the pump-out line could have separated & pumped water into the bilge.

It went down so quickly though, it almost had to have been a massive failure, not just bait tank pump volume.

- Mark