Father and his kids missing at sea

[Hardhead]

Originally Posted by vjm

At least one of the bodies recovered did have a PFD on. Have not heard about the other.

Good to keep in mind that dad may have been the first one overboard. If the kids were depending on his abilities and guidance that would be catastrophic.

The whole thing is so sad.

I do agree, and I don't mean to overly critical, as none of us were there, in fact. A scenario can be imagined where the one in charge is the first to go over, and the 2 sons might have jumped over to help. Very, very sad situation, and it sounds like a close family with probably a lot of financial problems that really needed a break.

[AD28]

FTA: "The Coast Guard offered no reason as to why Ace Kimberly's brother waited two days to contact them. In a phone call Sunday, he says Ace had told him they were "attempting to survive" in rough seas."
Family missing at sea off Florida coast has East Tennessee ties | WBIR.com

FTA: "The Kimberlys, we're learning, were a family living off the grid. The teenagers, 17-year-old Rebecca, 15-year-old Donny, and 13-year-old Roger weren't enrolled in public school...."Of all the boats out here, that would be the worst one to take out," said a man who identified himself as Byron, who lives in a boat nearby. "All the bulkheads were loose. It would fall apart anyway. You probably didn't even need a storm."..."
Missing family lived aboard boat, off the grid - Story | FOX 13 Tampa Bay

FTA: "Pauline (the mother) says she’s been estranged from her children since she divorced their father 9 years ago but stays in touch through a niece and photos. “They seemed to be happy.”...When Pauline learned Tuesday afternoon her children were missing she also found out about the family’s Florida move 1-2 years ago....According to the Sarasota School District, the siblings were not registered at any Sarasota public school and they were not being homeschooled."
Missing Sarasota family described as close | WTSP.com

Are we getting a picture now? These are not a 'cruising family,' with experience and knowledge of the water. These are some of the derelict liveaboards so maligned in these very fora. K?

[GoingWalkabout]

He calls and tells a relative he is very worried. Six feet seas. Why didn't this relative stay in touch by calling back an hour or two later? Why did this relative wait 3 days before raising an alarm?

Idiots.

[Cadence]

Originally Posted by AD28

FTA: "The Coast Guard offered no reason as to why Ace Kimberly's brother waited two days to contact them. In a phone call Sunday, he says Ace had told him they were "attempting to survive" in rough seas."
Family missing at sea off Florida coast has East Tennessee ties | WBIR.com

FTA: "The Kimberlys, we're learning, were a family living off the grid. The teenagers, 17-year-old Rebecca, 15-year-old Donny, and 13-year-old Roger weren't enrolled in public school...."Of all the boats out here, that would be the worst one to take out," said a man who identified himself as Byron, who lives in a boat nearby. "All the bulkheads were loose. It would fall apart anyway. You probably didn't even need a storm."..."
Missing family lived aboard boat, off the grid - Story | FOX 13 Tampa Bay

FTA: "Pauline (the mother) says she’s been estranged from her children since she divorced their father 9 years ago but stays in touch through a niece and photos. “They seemed to be happy.”...When Pauline learned Tuesday afternoon her children were missing she also found out about the family’s Florida move 1-2 years ago....According to the Sarasota School District, the siblings were not registered at any Sarasota public school and they were not being homeschooled."
Missing Sarasota family described as close | WTSP.com

Are we getting a picture now? These are not a 'cruising family,' with experience and knowledge of the water. These are some of the derelict liveaboards so maligned in these very fora. K?

Never the less the lose of life is tragic, especially young lives. They may have been derelict and not by choice.

[gjordan]

Poverty (and I suspect that is the situation) makes for far fewer options than most of us have. Driving on bald tires or with the gas gauge near empty, or sailing with a marginal boat is something that most of us will never have to deal with. When you are dirt poor you make do with what you have. The more comfortably moneyed among us might say that if you cant afford a proper boat, you should not be on any boat. Living on that little boat probably cost 1/5 of what apartment living would have cost. I give the guy credit for trying to raise his kids on the water, it beats the hell out of trying to raise them under an overpass or in a tent hidden away from sight. The ending is very sad, but the life they were trying to do was probably the very best they could manage. _____Grant.

[AD28]

FTA: "The body was found Thursday, four miles southeast from the location of where the first body was discovered. NBC News is reporting the second body is father, Ace Kimberly."

Friend of family missing at sea says boat was not seaworthy | WFLA.com

[salticrak]

Originally Posted by gjordan

Poverty (and I suspect that is the situation) makes for far fewer options than most of us have. Driving on bald tires or with the gas gauge near empty, or sailing with a marginal boat is something that most of us will never have to deal with. When you are dirt poor you make do with what you have. The more comfortably moneyed among us might say that if you cant afford a proper boat, you should not be on any boat. Living on that little boat probably cost 1/5 of what apartment living would have cost. I give the guy credit for trying to raise his kids on the water, it beats the hell out of trying to raise them under an overpass or in a tent hidden away from sight. The ending is very sad, but the life they were trying to do was probably the very best they could manage. _____Grant.

I hear you.

[Kumbaya31]

I read one post that someone from a boat nearby that said Ace was one of the most experienced sailors around.

[Kenomac]

Generally, I never post on this sort of thread, mainly because most of the obnoxious comments are made by people who've never done much if anything except from behind the safety of a computer screen inside their home. Stuff happens, things can quickly spiral out of control especially if someone falls overboard which is likely what happened. I'm sure the father tried his best, but was somehow overcome by the situation.

I've been through some tough, unexpected situations including a man overboard situation. Nobody claimed this lifestyle is 100% safe. I hope they find the boys OK.

[Mr B]

very sad to hear of the loss of lives on this boat,
But the conjecture is very disturbing,
A father and three kids on board, whats the chance of any one having Alcohol,
Highly unlikely in the circumstances as they were moving from one place to another, Sailing,
To me, The boat is quite big enough to handle the seas involved,
six feet waves are not really that tall and that boat should have coped easily with those seas,

One question I have, as every one has mentioned that the gulf is not deep,
Is it too deep to throw out an anchor and prop there till the weather has subsided,
Bow into the waves, Uncomfortable, But safe,

Why it happened, No one will ever know, unless some one is found alive,
They were a happy family and getting on well and enjoying life,
It might not be your way of life, or up to your expectations,
But it is not your right to judge these people on the way they lived theirs,
Or the way they sailed their vessel,
You dont know even what sort of sailor the father was, Or the kids,
I have seen little kids, much younger than these sail boats professionally,

The sea changes from a mill pond to chaotic in minutes, they may have been caught out unexpectedly,
One may have gone overboard with a wind change, Then it would have been every body trying to save
the MOB, Leaving the boat to flounder,
A swimmer in the water dissapears very quickly, The boat would have been going quite quickly,
In those conditions,
Panic would have set in, Rational thinking has gone out the window by this time,
Depending on who the MOB was, Especially the father being the MOB,
In these circumstances, The boat could have breached, turned turtle, throwing them all in the water,
Getting a MOB out of the water would take precedence to putting a life Jacket on,
Yes, Even tho they should have had them on any way, and a tether attached,

This is also conjecture, But thats life,

When you think about it, Very few people lose their lives at sea, Its not all that common,
Try Car accidents, the loss of life is truly horrendous, and every one of you has had a car accident at some time or another,
So please think about that before you start pointing the fingers at other people,
You werent there so you dont have the right to point your finger at any one,

The crap I received when I stated I was going to sail my 34 foot Cat across three oceans,
single handed, was incredible. After six weeks in Fiji learning to operate it,
mainly because I said I cant sail for ****, I still cant, But I sailed it 3000 Nmiles to Australia from Fiji,
Not one person asked about my previous boating experience,
They just jumped all over me for being an incompetant fool, and an idiot, for even trying it,
Risking other people lives if I got into trouble, Blah Blah Blah,

If it came to the crunch, I could have cut the Mast off, Dumped it all over the side and Motored it to Australia,
If all the electronics failed, Including the compass, I could still find my way to OZ by sun and stars at night,

45 years of Motor boating, Ski boats, fishing boats, speed boats, No I wasnt a novice at boating,
Using sails to get me some where, That was new, hahahahaha Learn on the way,
We have to start some where, But it was still a motor boat to me, Just that it had sails on it,
Whether I used them or not, Was up to me,

Another example, of rough seas, I was going fishing in Port Phillip Bay, Australia,
It was a Millpond when my Mate and I went out in my 13 foot runabout, Not even a ripple on the water,
This boat I bought in Qld and towed it back to Melbourne, It was a double hulled speed boat specifically designed for the South Moreton Bar, Look it up on Google, Its a rough bit of water,
After being out there fishing for about 4 hours, about 2 miles off shore, The weather picked up,
It went from Millpond to six feet waves in about 15 minutes,
, 150 metres of rope on the pick, I wasnt worried, I had a half cabin so we were not getting all that wet,
But it was getting on and the weather was getting worse, Visibilty NIL,
So I decided to try for the boat ramp, 40 horse Johnson on the back, But I did have a six inch freeboard on the Transom, Which did worry me, I didnt want to be flooded from a following wave,
So I just followed the wave crests towards the shore,
I ended up miles from the boat ramp, So then I just followed the shore line back to the boat ramp,
We had a following sea into the boat ramp, An 80 foot Yacht had been turfed up onto the rocks beside the Boat ramp, It was wrecked, Very sorry mess,
I said to my Mate, as soon as I hit the ramp, Jump out and get out of the water, This boat will fill with water and sink as soon as we get there from the following sea, which it did, It was three waves and it was on the bottom, Totally full of water, I dragged it out with my car,
13 Boats sank that same day out there in the Bay,
Yes, It was a bit rough, But we managed it, well me actually, My mate was not a boaty in any way shape or form,
Who could have predicted the storm, We had pdf's that was it, The weather report that morning, said it was going to be a fine day and the next day the same,
If they had of predicted crap weather, I would have stayed home,

[MarkSF]

Maybe it's time to consider EPIRBs as part of the mandatory equipment list.

[MarkSF]

Originally Posted by Steady Hand

It is a tragedy.
It is good to share as a cautionary tale too, that others may learn from it.

I think it is always good to put a face to the names, because these are people who were lost.

Here is a nice photo, made by a friend of mine (Bob Dein of Sarasota) and posted here with his permission, of the young girl who died in this incident. He took this photo recently, as I recall, about a week ago.

Rebecca, 17

Terrible, just terrible. And for want of a $300 piece of technology.

[TurninTurtle]

There have already been 16 child deaths from being left in hot cars this year.

Darwin was an idiot...

[reed1v]

'"an old saying and one worth restating. Never speak ill of the dead". Why not?

Raising different scenarios is not speaking ill of anyone; just saying things do not add up; and when things do not add up with kids involved, most experienced investigators' antennas start to wiggle.

One tries to learn from the misfortunes of others. For the kayakers, it's being aware that water surface temperatures are well below ambient air temperatures. So while you are dry, you also are slowly freezing to death.

[Mr B]

Epirbs are compulsory in Australia for off shore,