Death in Boca Ciega Bay

[pesarsten]

On Monday Feb 3rd I waited for my friend of 20 years, Lenard Ward , to join me at lunch in Gulfport Fl. I waited ... Couldn't reach him on his cell phone. And left two hours later.
On Tuesday morning I received the call. Lenny was found dead in the bay on Monday afternoon. While no conclusions have been made by Florida FWC who is investigating, it is likely that he was hit by a power boat while making his way to the Gulfport dinghy dock from his live aboard sailboat. He leaves behind two sons and many sad friends.

For those who may be inclined my wife has started a gofundme page to help with his final expenses, please take a moment to read her tribute.

https://www.gofundme.com/f/lenardspl...Bbanner%2Bexp2

[slug]

Sad to hear

Tendering at night can be treacherous . Every year I hear of tenders run down

Good idea to carry a strobe light On the tender and fire it off whenever you feel threatened

[BugzyCan]

Sorry to hear about your friend passing, my condolences.

The timelines converged for him, and he was lost. I have seen this many times, as we likely all have, where something happens a few seconds before, or a few seconds after to save us, and then we read about the people, where the timelines crossed.

Best wishes.

[Sojourner]

So sorry for your loss..... All the time I see either unlighted dinks or people with a climbing headlamp as a light only at anchorages. Everyone take this opportunity to order a detachable set of running lights for yourselves. I have these and they're great. 30 bucks on amazon. The life you save could be in your own family.

https://www.amazon.com/Attwood-14190...0884676&sr=8-9

[GordMay]

Sorry for your loss.
➥ https://www.baynews9.com/fl/tampa/ne...boca-ciega-bay

[Tetepare]

Originally Posted by Sojourner

So sorry for your loss..... All the time I see either unlighted dinks or people with a climbing headlamp as a light only at anchorages. Everyone take this opportunity to order a detachable set of running lights for yourselves. I have these and they're great. 30 bucks on amazon. The life you save could be in your own family.

https://www.amazon.com/Attwood-14190...0884676&sr=8-9

Ah yeah. Except this happened at 12:30pm.

[denverd0n]

So sorry to hear this. Sadly, there are a lot of extremely irresponsible boaters around Tampa Bay (though probably no more so than anywhere else). You just have to be really, really careful out there. Do not ever assume that the other guy knows the rules of the road, let alone will follow them.

[pesarsten]

It was a beautiful sunny day, we believe he died shortly after noon. I presume he was on his way to meet me for lunch as he had many times before.

[MV Wanderlust]

Well, damn. That is sad news, indeed. My deepest condolences.

[joelhemington]

While I agree that lights on your dink is a good idea, this happened in the middle of the day. What we have here is called Negligent Homicide at the very least. Just hope the authorities can nail the culprit responsible for this tragedy.

[Dehler 25]

The "alleged " suspect is not a pleasant fellow by any means and as I have been told by slipmates he fled the scene and put his boat "Final Edition" in his slip where Marine patrol quickly retrieved it. I made attempts in the past to be friendly to the suspect but the arrogance made that less than rewarding, the victim in this tragedy seems to have been well regarded. Some things are just not fair.

[pesarsten]

Thank you all for your kind words and generous contributions. I have not Heard any announcements regarding the investigation into Lenny's death yet, other than the coroner is releasing his body . His son Sidney is going to try to have a memorial service on Saturday the 15th of Feb.
I'll post a follow up.