Instructor Responsible? No life Jacket?

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Search for man overboard continues in Long Island Sound
Originally published: July 26, 2010 12:11 PM
Updated: July 26, 2010 12:29 PM
By GARY DYMSKI gary.dymskirb2@gr5tnewsday.com

The search continued Monday morning for a 20-year-old man who fell off a sailboat into the Long Island Sound just off New Rochelle, the U.S. Coast Guard said.

The man was training Sunday afternoon on a 23-foot sailboat, along with an instructor and two other individuals, when it reportedly listed 90 degrees because of heavy winds from a squall.

The missing man and the instructor fell overboard, and the instructor was able to get aboard the sailboat, according to reports. A flotation device was thrown to the man in the water, according to reports.

The man in the water was reportedly not wearing a life jacket. The flotation device thrown to him has since been recovered.

Nine mayday calls were received from mariners in distress in the waters of western Long Island Sound and into the East River, Coast Guard spokesman Charles Rowe said Sunday.

A rescue boat crew from Coast Guard Station Kings Point searched throughout the night, and another crew is on the scene searching Monday. At first light a rescue helicopter crew from Coast Guard Air Station Atlantic City also searched and the Westchester County Sheriff's Office also joined the search Monday.

The search area spans from City Island to Matinecock Point.

Rowe said the man went overboard between a mile and a mile and a half from shore. New Rochelle police, he said, recovered the vessel.
 
If the instructor made a PFD available for each person on board in accordance USCG regulations and local laws he has met his legal requirements. That, however, does not relieve him from being held liable... only the outcome of a civil suit can answer that question and you can bet the ranch that the instructor will be looking down the barrel of a civil suit.
 
I think the key on this one is that they were even out. Several stories have talked about "sudden squalls". They were anything but. I watched that line march across NY state all day long on my cell phone. Lots of red and yellow. It was clearly something you didn't want to be out in. About noon it was obvious to me our area would get hit between 3 and 4, it wasn't going to miss us. We moved fairly close to home, headed in when it was approaching, and had everything buttoned up at the dock well before the first raindrop hit.

If people aren't going to watch weather radar, maybe they should not go out on days when the forecast is for a substantial chance of thunderstorms, especially in 90-plus heat where you know storms can get crazy strong.
 
I boat along the South Shore of Long Island. On Sunday my wife and I and a few friends were planning to go out around 11 a.m. I checked the weather radar and saw that cold front with a line of severe thunderstorms on the leading edge heading our way at a pretty good clip. I simply cancelled the trip due to weather. It seemd to be the prudent thing to do, and as it turned out, judging by the number of trees and power lines down in my neighborhood, it was the right thing to do.
 
The hardest thing in the minds of people is to turn back.

The instructor will never get over this i'm sure.

Liability is now in charge of our lives, thanks to the lawyers.

I won't take my sons friends out on my boat anymore.

Nor will i take Boy Scouts out unless the local council puts in a day trip and their ins. covers me.

I tried to get a few of my sons friends parents to sign a waiver before we left on a trip and not one would sign.

So i refused to take them.

I tears me up sometimes but to loose everything i worked 40 years for will be lost in a instant that a kids does something stupid, or someone on another boat does something stupid and involve me on the water.

Been alot of close calls lately on the water.
 
"The Coast Guard and local agencies were deluged with calls when the freak thunderstorm blew through, bringing wind gusts of 40 knots and sustained winds of 30 knots."
It was not a freak thunderstorm. Thunderstorms that produce those effects and sometimes higher winds and hail are common on many of the hot humid days we have been having this summer in the NE. They travel quickly from west to east. They are easily recognizable by the darkening blue/gray horizion to the west which allows enough time to furl or douse the sails and batten down the hatches, at the very least all on board have plenty of time to don their life preservers when the captain is using his weather eye and his "captain's sense". A life preserver is exactly that.
 
Let's blame someone else if we can, that today is the American way.
 
I was on the water when this came through. We were returning to Haverstraw from Barnegat. I saw it when I prepped that morning for the trip. I saw it all along the route on my E120. We ran fast up the river to get north of the worst part and only got wet for the last 10 miles of the trip.

There was nothing freak about it. It was accurately forecast and highly predictable. You have to look at the weather to know the weather.
 
quote:
Originally posted by ronp

I think the key on this one is that they were even out. Several stories have talked about "sudden squalls". They were anything but. I watched that line march across NY state all day long on my cell phone. Lots of red and yellow. It was clearly something you didn't want to be out in. About noon it was obvious to me our area would get hit between 3 and 4, it wasn't going to miss us. We moved fairly close to home, headed in when it was approaching, and had everything buttoned up at the dock well before the first raindrop hit.

If people aren't going to watch weather radar, maybe they should not go out on days when the forecast is for a substantial chance of thunderstorms, especially in 90-plus heat where you know storms can get crazy strong.

Click to expand...


Ditto, it was clear by about 9AM that we were going to get hit pretty hard. The boats at our marina that went out all came back by 1PM to avoid being in it.

That should have been the FIRST thing the instructor taught - be aware of the weather.
 
Yup, got to agree here. I was on the water and could see the storm coming. Told my wife to pack it in we are running home to beat it. Which we did easily. Poured on the car ride home and was glad not to have gotten caught in it.
 
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