Looking for trouble..........

tailchaser · 10-05-2003, 07:18 PM

Well, we had some friends go out of charleston yesterday in search of tuna. At dark, no one had heard from them and one of the wives called my dad pretty worried. So my dad headed for the boat basin and let the coast guard know of the situation. Apparently, they shrugged it off and didn't seem to care. The fog had rolled in, and visibility was about 100 yards. There were three boats in the trip and none were hailable on vhf.

Finally, at roughly 9 pm I get a call that they had made it back safely and went 79 MILES!!!! :shocked: Ended up with 6 tuna. All my dad and I could think about was they have to be crazy in a 21' trophy that doesn't have a good fuel gage (basically isn't working) and a tempermental VHF. [img]graemlins/stupid.gif[/img] This had the making of disaster on an october day going that far. Reminds me of the perfect storm pushing the limits this late in the year with a sketchy forcast. I'm happy to say they made it home, but especially for thier wives sake don't do that again.

The most confusing thing though was the lackluster attitude of the coast guard? Three boats out way after sundown and you can't reach any of them by vhf? Should've raised some eyebrows at least. [img]graemlins/eek13.gif[/img] This time they might have been right, but in the event something did happen the response time would've been terrible and they would've defnitely died from exposure. Doesn't give me a lot of confidence right now, but oh well, I don't plan on making any more trips this fall.

tc

skein · 10-05-2003, 07:47 PM

You mean 79 miles one way???? I'm pretty speechless at this point. I am glad that they made it back safely, but I hope they don't ask me to be their wingman any time soon. Whew.

Are they Ifishers? Will we hear the story from their side? As the song says, "What were they thinkin'?"

Skein

Lepper · 10-05-2003, 08:00 PM

YIKES!! and here I thought 26 to out was far!! glad they made it back....

TC.. I have seen the same attitude from a lot of good ol' coasties.. I have pretty much lost my respect for them a while ago..

d

Orca · 10-05-2003, 08:02 PM

Danger Will Robinson - Danger!

skein · 10-05-2003, 08:10 PM

I hope this doesn't escalate into a war, but I have a hard time hearing about someone who heads out 79 miles in a 21' Trophy with a faulty fuel gauge and questionable radio, in October of all months, and then using their antics to chop on the Coasties.

That won't work with me.

I'm very interested in hearing the story from the fishermen's standpoint, but I don't see the CG at fault here.

Skein

Miss B Haven · 10-05-2003, 08:31 PM

The CG can't respond unless they get a direct call or a call from someone who has a float plan and knows exactly what the plan was. Like a "missing person" report, there's a delay on a float plan call.
If the CG had a direct call from the boat(s) they would have responded. They can't afford (dollar and life wise) to respond to every "I'm worried" call from an indirect party to go searching for an unknown issue.
Keep this in mind when you are out there in the beautiful blue! :smile:

Orca · 10-05-2003, 09:02 PM

I'm with Skein and Miss B. - tell us the rest of the story. Was there a Float Plan the CG could have acted on? Did anyone have any idea where the 3 boats were?

I'm sure the CG has a set protocol that is followed, and they don't like to go on wild goose chases because someone thinks that somebody else is lost.

[ 10-05-2003, 10:03 PM: Message edited by: Orca ]

Sea Jypzee · 10-05-2003, 11:34 PM

Ack!! :shocked: :shocked:

I certianly hope that what's being described didn't truely happen. A 21' boat of any type out 70+ miles is unsafe. I would hope that they had a float plan filed, but would not be at all surprised if not.

I would hope that the 79 miles was total distance travelled, which could equate to about 35 miles out and back, plus a little for trolling.

Realistically, I don't see a 21' boat having the fuel capacity to do a 79 mile (each direction), unless it's equiped with one of the new very fuel miserly outboards today...but from the way the boat is described, it doesn't sound like it...

I agree with Skein and Mel. There must be much more to the story that we're not hearing.

Fishplay · 10-06-2003, 05:30 AM

Glad they returned safely!

However; we [img]graemlins/hearton.gif[/img] our coasties here at Ifish.

I personaly have nothing but respect for them.

U.S.C.G.

tailchaser · 10-06-2003, 06:22 AM

Yes, a 21' trophy did go 79 miles out one way. He has 110 gallon capacity on the boat and stocked another 20 on board. The complaint I have about the coast guard is they more or less blew off the people that knew of this adventure and expected them back fully by dark. However, no one knew they had gone that far. I'm not flaming the coasties but would've thought they would be a little more cautious when they didn't return before dark. I'm not saying they needed to start the search party but they weren't even interested in it until an actual distress came in. As far as I know these people are not on ifish.

There definitely was no float plan to go that far. It was a typical tuna hunt and to my knowledge he's gone out as many as 39 on a trip that we grouped together. There were three boats in the group, only two of which went 79 miles. I guess the third boat got lost on the way in the jetties because he was using his spotlight in the fog. Turns out he was from Brookings and not familiar with the boat basin. Can't imagine he was too happy with the other two boats leaving him in the bay like that. My dad was at the docks waiting for them so my information is accurate, besides why they went that far. Not sure anyone has figured that one out yet.

tc

Lepper · 10-06-2003, 07:12 AM

21 ftr not having the range for going out 79 miles?? my 19ft has the fuel capacity to go out 79 miles one way.. I would do it.. but I have the capacity..
d

tailchaser · 10-06-2003, 07:39 AM

UMMMMMM, do you mean would'NT do it?

:grin: tc

corrirod · 10-06-2003, 08:18 AM

Think about this even from the coasties standpoint:
There was no formal float plan.
No contact with any of the boats, not even the one that didn't go all the way out.
No idea which way they were headed.

What is the Coast Guard supposed to do? If they did send someone looking, which way would they go? How much would they see if it was fogged in? The phrase "needle in a haystack" comes to mind, only worse.

The safety of those boats was solely in their own hands. They decided to go out of range of VHF, they did not let anyone know of their float plan, they made the conscious decision to go out farther than they had ever been knowing they were going to be late to port.

This is a good reminder to let people know when and where you're going, and how long you expect to be out. You're spouses and friends should have a "drop dead" time in mind to get worried and make the call to the coast guard. It is your responsibility to be back in port before that time or except the consequences.

Those of us Salty Dogs that run out of Depoe Bay have a fairly rough idea of where everyone is heading but we should still make sure someone on land is aware of our rough float plan. Knowing even a basic heading can help the Coast Guard decide if it's worth the effort. For the Coasties to go out in the fog, in my mind, should only happen if they have a "boat down" call or if they have exact coordinates to go by.

Just my opinion.

As far as the range of a 21' Trophy, no problem. It's a very seaworthy boat, despite it's length, and has plenty of range. I've only got 82 gallons in mine and I've been out over 60 miles one way with no problem. I spent 58 gallons on that trip and I have a 2 stroke gas hog. I do however have radar, gps, and a working VHF onboard to help me find my way.