Missing boater

M

mx8

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Joined
Nov 28, 2006
RO Number
24359
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Doesn`t sound good.http://www.wfsb.com/story/19315207/dive-teams-search-for-missing-boater, another report says the boat was made of concrete .
 
They found the body this morning. I was out fishing off Montauk and heard the initial Mayday and the radio traffic afterwards between the Coast Guard and other boats nearby. Sounded like it really happened fast. I had been hoping the unaccounted for person was okay but sadly saw the news reports this morning and that isn't the case.
 
50 foot boat, hit rocks, crystal clear day, good sea conditions.
Sounds like a case of trusting auto pilot without look out.
 
Dave, I'm not familiar with that area but on another forum someone said that's a very tricky spot where you can think you're between the buoys but be heading straight for the rock they hit. May have just been a misjudgement in an unfamiliar area.

One thing that stands out from hearing the whole thing unfold on the radio is that everyone seemed to be aware there was likely someone trapped in the cabin but it didn't seem like any of the agencies on site had the capability to dive to the boat and attempt a rescue. I'm not sure how deep the water was where the boat actually sunk, and if that's something most agencies are prepared for. There was a private boat on scene offering dive gear but the Coast Guard kept asking him where he was and he seemed to be getting frustrated telling them he was right there and I don't think anything ever came of his offer.

This is also now the second time this summer I've heard a Mayday while out (including the July 4th Oyster Bay sinking) and now 4 people dead who were trapped in the cabin between the 2 incidents. Which had me thinking that one thing to emphasize to guests is if something goes wrong get out of the cabin ASAP.

John
 
Well if you hit a rock fast enough to sink the boat that quick, you also may of hit your head.
Let's face hitting anything in the water is going to propel people.
Gotta be the worst scenario for any boat.
 
Sad...

I ve been thru fishers sound many times and while there are many rocks, some just below water, it is very well marked... I can't imagine how anyone could hit anything!
 
News reports are saying the boat hit 'Pulpit Rock' and then sank in 42' of water. Haven't looked at a chart yet to see where that actually is.
 
I checked, pulpit rock is just outside West Harbor, east of the dumplings. Well marked by a green and a red!!
 
Look again. There is a red between two greens almost in a line. Easy enough to go between the wrong red and green especially if they didn't see the other one and went between the buoys. Other thing is people get confused around an island. Should red be on the right? Not Either way could be out to sea. I boat in these waters. It is easy to get confused if you are not vigilant. I think they just went though the wrong pair of buoys thinking the safe channel was further from shore. Usually right but here the safe passage is closest to shore.
 
There are indeed many rocks and many markers in the area, I just can't imagine running thru the sound without a chart open if not a Plotter running
 
If you were visually traversing the area, then yes, you could make that mistake.
But, noone should run their boat strictly using visual.
If you were using a chart or a plotter, you would see the mistake.
A good mariner would know whether he is running with red on right or green through the last set and keep that unless they had just pulled out of Fishers and were confused.
 
Many people do not pay attention to market numbers and fail to realize that they mean something!

Coming in the sound from Watch Hill the main channel RRR goes to Mystic and the msinland, not fishers. When going to fishers you leave the main channel around G15 then pick up a new channel / set of market back at G1/R2 and follow them all the way into west harbor. The next set R4/G5 is pretty close together and their numbers te the story. If you stray outside the Red you re on the rocks!

Leaving West harbor the numbers decrease as well and you have two pairs of market depending on whether you re heading to Watch hill or Mystic. Again two sets, if you cut in between the sets you ll have the red on the wrong side and end up on the rocks

Let it be a lesson for EVERYONE to pay attention to navigation, no matter how familiar you are with the waters.

I can't post the chart bit from my phone but if you are reading this and have a nav app on your phone, look it up.
 
Definatley a area that deserves respect, but well marked to anyone reading the chart and not relying on their visual view.

pulpitrock.jpg
 
Was just checking this area out on ActiveCaptain. I see there is an additional warning already for this area along with mention of the lost ship. No excuses for this kind off accident but it is a place where you need to be vigilent. It's an area with a lot of water that looks wide open when, in fact, it's not at all. Couple this with heavy traffic and it demands attention. The boat was from Mystic, I wonder how much experience the captain had in the area. Or perhaps we'll find out one of his many "guests" was at the helm?
 
I go thru quite often...chartplotter always on but the whole area always has me on edge until i`m out of there or at my destination. As mentioned above lots of open water that isn`t.It`s also a good area for fog although there wasn`t the day of the sinking.
 
I could definitely see how someone not closely looking at the chart could line up the 2 reds and keep the green to port and head right for the rocks.
 
quote:
Originally posted by mx8

I go thru quite often...chartplotter always on but the whole area always has me on edge until i`m out of there or at my destination. As mentioned above lots of open water that isn`t.It`s also a good area for fog although there wasn`t the day of the sinking.

Click to expand...


Same here. That place gives me the willies. Seems like open waters, but ther are rocks everywhere. I went through that exact area, and actually stopped the boat to make sure what was on the chart plotter was what I was seeing, and vice versa.
 
I would be curious what type of plotter he had.
I find that the vector charts you find on most chartplotters don't give the detail that the raster charts do.
The image I posted above is raster and you can see you are in blue water which means shallower than other areas.
Ever since I switched to using my ipad with raster charts I am so much more cognizant of these blue spots.
In fact there is one near me, it's all sand and grass, no rocks, but I regularly ran over it on plane only to realize it's 2 feet of water at low tide.
My vector raymarine didn't realy highlight it well. It shows countour lines which are hard to see.
The different colors clearly shows a change in water.
 
Not sure which way he came at it but he either went from 60'+ to 20' to 10' or he went from 30 to 20 to 10. Maybe it's my south shore DNA but those kind of changes would always provoke a "hey, wait a minute" response and a lot more chart checking. Around here that just about always means you are running out of channel.

There's a reason depth finders beep when the range changes.
 
Wait I hear some new legislation coming.
All rocks mus tbe painted orange and if under water, will be extended to the surface so thay can be seen!
 
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