Father and his kids missing at sea

[Adodero]

USCG released photos of the boat:

https://twitter.com/USCGSoutheast/st...44045588299776

Another post also indicated that they located a mast 100nm offshore and are enroute to evaluate it.

[Cadence]

Some of the Monday night quarterbacking stinks. JMHO

[DDabs]

morning*

[TurninTurtle]

Originally Posted by Cadence

Some of the Monday night quarterbacking stinks. JMHO

Lots of the speculating stinks...

Making up all kinds of "If he did this..." stuff with not even a clue is just inappropriate.

How the hell did alcohol get into this?
Does someone have a sample of the guy's blood for a BAC test?
I didn't think so.

[Dennis.G]

Two bodies have been found offshore in area, but not yet identified.

[Cadence]

Originally Posted by TurninTurtle

Lots of the speculating stinks...

Making up all kinds of "If he did this..." stuff with not even a clue is just inappropriate.

How the hell did alcohol get into this?
Does someone have a sample of the guy's blood for a BAC test?
I didn't think so.

You and I are on the same page. A sad event but picking it apart without any knowledge stinks. Maybe a little empathy would be better.

[Kita]

Another body has been found in the area,no ID on that one yet,along with a mast..don't know how they got that but man that is sad....I was hoping they were going to be with the kayaks but they found them as well...hard to believe they couldn't get to the kayaks if the boat was going down...it must have been quick,whatever happened. ..would an ais help SAR people find the boat? Or I would assume that only works when it's on..I know they didn't have a radio but the question is for my own personal safety. .epirb is only one way or the only way...just thinking about what I will carry on board. ..I was just talking to a family member about carrying a spot device so they can track me because I will be doing a lot of solo sailing very soon

[Dave852]

Originally Posted by weavis

It is alway best to get the full story before attributing blame. There are a lot of suppositions here, some which may indeed be the truth, but as of yet, we just have a missing family and one body recovered.



This area was my sailing/fishing ground from 2002-2011. It can be the most peaceful and suddenly change to a short choppy world of nastiness. One misjudgement and it can ruin your day.



People do not get married to get a divorce. People do not do things to deliberately harm their family. In life sometimes we take a chance and if lucky, we get away with it. If not.............



All the jumping up and down and shouting is not going to fix this, not for this family. What we can do is make mental notes of what WE can do to help others to enjoy a safe time on the sea. We do not need to blame anyone. Except for circumstances and knowledge, it could have been us out there...let us spread that knowledge and give freely.



My heart is so very sore for the loss.

Well said.


Sent from my iPad using Cruisers Sailing Forum

[Tx J]

USCG Sector St. Pete Public Affairs links are below. They're keeping up closely, probably the best source for news, from PADET D7 Tampa Bay.
There are also USCG D7 twitter and facebook links therein that could be kept even more current.

Official USCG News Releases tracking this incident : News Releases

This link has a few pics, the one of the half burned flare is 'significant' or it wouldn't have been posted: **IMAGERY AVAILABLE** COAST GUARD CONTINUES SEARCH FOR SAILBOAT WITH FATHER AND 3 TEENAGERS MISSING; BODY FOUND


IMO, all the critical 'emphatic' comments here are missing it. In all likelihood this sad event was probably easily preventable or knowable.
Most here do a lot of prep before even going out on the bays.
The Coasties do their jobs, have to contend with it. I hear a little from my kids, things like this are tough; and generate a certain cynicism sometimes.

No apparent weather check (a TD/TS was developing not far away, those very strong east winds were flowing to it). Tropical Storm DANIELLE Advisory Archive

No VHF. GPS/Compass?
No USCG, et al., contact tel numbers, or even an operator call.
Offshore, no EPIRB, perhaps other deficient safety gear, tethers.
Boat needing a repair of some kind, degree.
The tel convo with brother, then a long delay?
WX WX WX...

I guess I'm just somewhat PO'ed, have dealt with fatalities before, many unnecessary.

[tchavei]

This is just terrible

Enviado do meu GT-I9195 através de Tapatalk

[OneLeggedParrot]

Wow


Well. Pending some miracle, it’s getting close to 24 hours now, unless I’m mistaken.
They’ve found 3 bodies of the 4. And they’ve recovered almost all the useful flotation devices -kayaks, lifevests, pfd’s… correct?


Two things I noticed here-


1) How many people within the last day have read and posted in this thread


2) How we all are being affected, even from afar, be it by frustration, speculation, blame, empathy, horror, sadness, analysis, examination, anger… wanting to help, praying for a miracle… ALL of us.


I’m sure there’s all kinds of reasons and what could have been done or not, the circumstances surrounding their last moments, maybe a miracle will still happen for the last person… and those left behind we will cope alike, be us strangers or family and people from afar or who knew them personally and loved them all.


God Bless them and where they go from here. It is the Mariner’s ultimate doom in many ways- all of us can feel this pretty intently, regardless of anything else and any and all our differences.
-
We’re all in many ways part of one family of those ho go to sea- it is a broad, vast, immense, almost endless, limitless place. And we can be very alone on it without each other.




…




I think if someone is in the area and knows or knew the family, maybe you might be moved to post some info where we could send a card, flowers, etc... That might be nice, and a little bit of comfort to those that it might help -that so many people do care.




R.I.P.




+ + +

[transmitterdan]

Originally Posted by Kita

Another body has been found in the area,no ID on that one yet,along with a mast..don't know how they got that but man that is sad....I was hoping they were going to be with the kayaks but they found them as well...hard to believe they couldn't get to the kayaks if the boat was going down...it must have been quick,whatever happened. ..would an ais help SAR people find the boat? Or I would assume that only works when it's on..I know they didn't have a radio but the question is for my own personal safety. .epirb is only one way or the only way...just thinking about what I will carry on board. ..I was just talking to a family member about carrying a spot device so they can track me because I will be doing a lot of solo sailing very soon

Kita,

I think this tragic event should make all the people who say an EPIRB is not an off-shore requirement rethink their logic. When you end up in the water it would be best to have the signalling equipment also designed to be in the water too. An EPIRB is specifically designed to be deployed directly into the water. There is no better device and all the alternatives have some deficiency that make them unsuitable for an event like this one. My personal plea would be to have an in-service EPIRB properly registered aboard anytime cruising out of site of land. In my opinion there is simply no good excuse not to have one.

This family or any other family in the US could have one on board for less than $100.

About EPIRB Rentals: BoatUS Foundation

[powsmias]

Originally Posted by Cadence

You and I are on the same page. A sad event but picking it apart without any knowledge stinks. Maybe a little empathy would be better.

I think the empathy is all over the board here.. I don't like the alcohol references either by the way.. just a guess here that maybe the father wanted to give the kids a taste of the seas out of lands view thinking it might be good for their learning experience. Living together in such a confined space I would bet a lot of cohesion and trust was involved.. I see hearts pouring out here, people wishing they could do anything to help but out of our hands.. maybe they're lookin down and know they helped others in their preparations in the future. I'm sure their deaths will save others down the road.

[TurninTurtle]

Without knowing the cause of the boat going down we can't learn what not to do from the incident. (what was it going to have serviced?)

We can speculate about a lot of stuff...
We KNOW very little.

We think that the dad knew they were in trouble when he made that call saying they were trying to survive...

The last time the brother had heard from them was at about 3 p.m. Sunday.

"The man called his brother and stated the sailboat was in 6-foot seas and he was attempting to survive with his children offshore of Englewood," the Coast Guard said in a press release.

Really at that point calling in Coast Guard would have been appropriate.
But would it have gotten a cutter or heli there in time?
Anybody's guess.
The boat may have gone down 30 seconds after that call. It may have floated another day or two.

Maybe the dad was trying not to scare his brother and didn't get the message of how much trouble they were in across...

[four winds]

A sad and tragic event.

The gulf is my cruising grounds so I read with interest about the conditions experienced here. But I've missed something or don't understand.

Is it correct that the winds were out of the east, and therefore an offshore wind? If so I don't understand the statements describing short period square waves, chop, and unpredictability.

I made this same run a couple of months ago with 20+ knots steady, no gusts, and a full moon. Leaving St.Pete and overnight to Ft. Myers. The wind never let up. Reefed down and doing hull speed on auto pilot. Stayed in close about 2-3 miles out to avoid 25+ further offshore.

Wind and swell were on the beam and seas were 1-2 feet. Running almost parallel to the seas it was the best ride I have had yet. There was almost no motion of roll and pitch for hours at a time.

Was it actually onshore winds? Earlier someone posted it as an easterly.

I've never made a run offshore with onshore winds, and hopefully never will. After many, many coastal hops and a dozen overnighters I've never seen seas over 4 feet in the gulf.

Even the couple of times caught by thunderstorms, one lasting several hours, the seas never built up, just wind.

I've never been caught by a front offshore however. And I think one may have came through on Sunday.