Sailor Lost; 406 EPIRB Activated 30nm N of Key West

[Bluewaters2812]

Originally Posted by capngeo

Only that his sister may come down from Alaska for some personal closure; I have offered to take her out to the posit of the EPIRB.

We've had no rain since the initial report, I fear we are now at about the limit of human endurance if he is adrift in the kayak. If the Tri has turtled and he can access the fresh water stores, perhaps there is hope.

H34 told me by phone today that he is setting out to that position in his boat, and is also going to inspect the nearby navigation tower for signs of a collision. He has dive gear aboard if he finds anything on his sounder. He is expecting to be back in KW Saturday. I expect he will update the thread then.

Now that is excellent practical support from you and H34 ... go CF members, lets find this man!

[H34]

First and foremost - the search for Jay and the 40' trimaran 3/4 TIME continues on!

I sailed out of KW on my H34 to Boca Grande Channel then dodging miles of shallow shoaling, speed 3 knots, on course 007 into the gentle rolling sea. The sunset was splendid beauty. Wind speed was a gentle breeze from the N. Caught a Spanish mackerel but lost it in the final rinse cycle.

Arrived at 0400 to the recovery EPIRB location - where the fiberglass wooden trimaran "3/4 Time" very possibly impacted with Tower W (whiskey).

After conducting numerous analysis and various thoughts into the speed, time, distance, course, wind, weather conditions, speed overground conditions and on site observations - I have come to this firm 100% conclusion that Jay collide with the non lighted tower that has a very LOUD continuous fog horn. The EPIRB was located by the Coast Guard approximately 1.5 nautical miles SSW from the tower. Directly in correlation with the impact sinking theory.

According to the Coast Guard Rules of the Road - ALL vessels shall maintain a look out. At 0400, I'm 100% certain Jay was in a deep exhausted sleep and collided into the base of the tower. It is conceivable the mast rigging was snarled. I observed a rapped wire oddly hanging from the SSE quadrant of the base platform. I would estimate the base height to be approximately 40 feet.

In the pitch black dark with 3 to 4 foot waves the boat must of flooded and sank. In the sinking process went upside down preventing the massive debris field. Jay's VHF radio did not operate.

When arriving at the EPIRB recovery location (34 nm N of KW) it gave me a sense of eerie feeling. Cruising with the full Moon, I finally saw the bright light - - it was not the light from the tower. It was from a sailing vessel with anchoring and steaming lights on - destination Key West. He radioed me regarding my vessel did not appear on his radar scope. I affirmed to him I have radar reflectors. I then radioed back was here doing investigative analysis into a lost sailor. He sailed on.

Today I mailed a formal request to the Coast Guard base on the Freedom of Information Act, release of all information on 3/4 TIME.

Our next assertive effort is to organize an underwater search. This effort is going to require support from the SCUBA community. It is time for Mel Fisher to come to aid of a lost sailor. It is now time to respectfully request that the Conch Navy be activated!

I think the Cruisers Forum can be a great asset in the search recovery process. I think that the great state of ALASKA along with the world will help to find JAY and 3/4 TIME.

Any thoughts, suggestions, comments, donations are welcome.

In closing:
To those that have thanked us for our efforts. Perhaps we are ALL making our contribution for coming to the aid of lost mariners.

Bravo Zulu to You!

Very sincerely, thank you ALL for your efforts, support and helpful comments.

[Boatguy30]

Hell of a theory, still don't think an outboard powered piver would completely sink even when holed. The search continues!

[Kettlewell]

Thank you for your report. On my charts those towers are shown as lighted with a horn. Are you saying that the light is out? The Coast Guard needs to be notified if that is so.

Your analysis of what might have happened was my initial guess based on limited information. However, the lack of debris found could be more of an indication of the relatively high winds that evening that pushed things far off to the southeast.

[H34]

I will assemble a dive team to go on site once the weather subsides that will be up approximately one week. The underwater has not yet been searched it will be search.

[Boatguy30]

Is Mel still alive? I met him at schooner wharf bar about 15 years ago and he was looking pretty rough.

[capngeo]

Originally Posted by Boatguy30

Is Mel still alive? I met him at schooner wharf bar about 15 years ago and he was looking pretty rough.

Mel is long dead. His operation continues to salvage the Atocha

Mel Fisher

[unbusted67]

Guys I'm, really sorry about this. Best of luck in your search. Hang in there Jay if you are out there!

[jayy]

***** Tasteless Comment deleted*****

[mikepmtl]

Some people have Zero class.

[mbianka]

Originally Posted by H34

I will assemble a dive team to go on site once the weather subsides that will be up approximately one week. The underwater has not yet been searched it will be search.

How deep is the water at the location? Might be easier and more efficient to use a tethered underwater camera. Available pretty cheap on Amazon or Ebay. Would be able to cover more ground before sending divers down to investigate.

[capngeo]

Originally Posted by mbianka

How deep is the water at the location? Might be easier and more efficient to use a tethered underwater camera. Available pretty cheap on Amazon or Ebay. Would be able to cover more ground before sending divers down to investigate.

~60' depending on tide

[Cormorant]

H34 and CapnGeo -- you guys are princes.

Just thought I would throw this into the mix: I have a water ballasted plywood/epoxy boat, and I’ve mused on her “unsinkability.” Just spitballing . . . wood/plywood is about 0.6X the density of water. So a wooden hull weighing, say, 5000 lbs., has reserve buoyancy of 2000 lbs if flooded. Then you strap on the "sinkers," like a 100 lb outboard, a big battery or two, maybe add an aluminum mast, pack in a bunch of cans of soup. . . . And lots of stuff that doesn’t have a density significantly greater than water, like clothing or books. . . . Epoxy weighs about 9 lbs / gallon -- not much more dense than seawater at 8.5 lbs. per gallon, so it doesn't contribute much to sinkability, even if you used hundreds of gallons.

Our boat has a lot of built-in foam just for extra safety, but even without any, you still wind up with a hull that should float easily if completely flooded. I have a hard time imagining how a plywood trimaran could carry enough denser-than-water material to sink her when flooded.

Am I missing anything major in these ballpark figures?

[rebel heart]

In all seriousness though, good luck on searching the bottom. What are the currents and visibility like there? From my dive training when we did search patterns I remember it took a lot of air to cover not a lot of ground, but we had pretty terrible visibility.

[Boracay]

If the boat impacted the tower with enough force to sink there may be recent abrasion, scratch or paint marks.