You see any safety equipment???

Okay Florida gang, what happened here?? Give us intel on the news down there. A 32 foot Sea Ray capsizes - I see no life vest, no dinghy, no flares, no radio, no PLB, no nothing.....what the heck - some 80 miles off shore and no nothing.. I am glad he made it, but apparently no distress signals rec'd.

Strange to not have an EPIRB/PLB as Florida gives a registration reduction for one...granted for his boat it may have been only $23 or so...but still its something and a reminder from the state what a good idea they are.

The lighter stuff could have drifted away from wind and surface current in that picture...tho again... strange he didn't grab something in case that air pocket went away.


Depending on where the boat sank.... a typical 6db antenna on a Sea Ray (express???) might not have had the range and most people don't/can't use the DSC distress (panic, not registered or connected to GPS, etc)

No, but its awfully easy for us to pass judgement with no facts, from the comfort of a recliner and morning coffee...

lets not be quick to judge before the facts are in...

Mark P said:

Okay Florida gang, what happened here?? Give us intel on the news down there.

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I did a Google Search of "Florida man rescued offshore" and got tons of hits. I'm not sure anyone in Florida is a better resource and they're certainly not accountable for the behavior of an individual.

I know nothing about this person or the boat, but my experience based on years of doing safety inspections (and writing tickets afterwards) is that for most small cruiser owners, an EPIRB or PLB, dingy, raft, or handheld VHF is a looooong stretch. Most have a few type III PFDs and a waterlogged throwable seat cushion buried in a compartment somewhere, along with some expired flares still in their packaging. Sailors seem to do much better in this regard, and trawler owners even better still

That said, for a boat of that design, it doesn't take long between flooding and capsizing. Anything not within reasonable arm's reach and certainly anything stored down below is often not useful.

Mark P said:

Okay Florida gang, what happened here?? Give us intel on the news down there. A 32 foot Sea Ray capsizes - I see no life vest, no dinghy, no flares, no radio, no PLB, no nothing.....what the heck - some 80 miles off shore and no nothing.. I am glad he made it, but apparently no distress signals rec'd.

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I've been living in Florida off and on for 40 years and I have to admit, this is a very weird place, so don't be surprised about anything you read about it.

Boats capsizing in the middle of the Gulf Stream. Planes disappearing into the Bermuda Triangle. Guys carrying M-16s into Walmart. Dead monkeys as road kill on the side of the road. Crazy iguanas chasing my little doggie around.

Fun place to live!


PS- This subject could make an interesting thread on its own.

Is it any coincidence that "Florida guy" actually lives in Florida? :lol:

Guys, not passing judgment at all, but I think one of the best boating services we here on the TF (mostly you guys who know more than I) can provide is to discuss what safety gear is needed on all boats and on people's bodies who will be going this far out alone. Having lost a boat underway some 30 years ago, I wear a lot of gear. I don't care that I get funny stares when I come back to our dock from a little jaunt around the island (Hilton Head) in my former 28 ft Sea Ray wearing a Off Shore Inflatable vest, a PLB-1 clipped to my belt, and my water proof radio on the other hip. It will be interesting to hear what happened, what kind of boat etc.

That’s one lucky dude!

Wonder what kind of anchor he has. Seems to performing better than the rest of the boat.

Hard to believe that the bow section was airtight.

High Wire said:

Hard to believe that the bow section was airtight.

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The Sea Rays I used to run were incredibly airtight....


But obviously the air bubble isn't real big.

I sure understand Mark's post - we just got back from a fishing charter off Hilton Head on Saturday. Windy, cold, horizontal rain, and that relatively big charter boat sure was rolling - ice coolers were sliding back and forth, kids were green and barfing (not my kids, but others, ha), lead weights were swinging around. I'm sure we weren't in any serious danger, just really uncomfortable, but I did think to myself if something serious did happen, I'd want a heck of a lot more than one of of those boxy generic orange Type II vests stored under the seat cushions.

This is a link to an article and video in Soundings online:

https://www.soundingsonline.com/news/why-an-inflatable-lifejacket-may-not-be-your-best-choice

Mario Vittone explains why he likes closed-cell foam jackets with big pockets so you can store safety gear—like VHFs and PLBs—that could get you found and out of the water quickly.

High Wire said:

Hard to believe that the bow section was airtight.

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They didn’t skimp on caulk with the deck to hull joint fortunately.

High Wire said:

Hard to believe that the bow section was airtight.

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Agreed! Maybe all the v berth cushions?

Ken

The Admiral and I frequently play the "what if" game with me asking "what if I suddenly fell overboard"?

She has the sequence down pretty well including shutting down the auto pilot, hitting the MOB button and throwing everything that floats overboard.

True everything might have floated away but he should have been prepared for that air bubble to burst.

pete

Pete Meisinger said:

The Admiral and I frequently play the "what if" game with me asking "what if I suddenly fell overboard"?

She has the sequence down pretty well including shutting down the auto pilot, hitting the MOB button and throwing everything that floats overboard.

True everything might have floated away but he should have been prepared for that air bubble to burst.

pete

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Pete, I cannot help myself, sorry.
What exactly would you do if she fell overboard.

Soo-Valley said:

Pete, I cannot help myself, sorry.
What exactly would you do if she fell overboard.

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A loaded question if ever I saw one!

Soo-Valley said:

Pete, I cannot help myself, sorry.
What exactly would you do if she fell overboard.

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Of course the other question is what would she actually do if he fell overboard. I think that might depend on his life insurance.

Northern Spy said:

Wonder what kind of anchor he has. Seems to performing better than the rest of the boat.

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Danforth. The performance of the Danforth in the picture posted is really a testimony to the bow pulpit, more than anything.

Shrew said:

Danforth. The performance of the Danforth in the picture posted is really a testimony to the bow pulpit, more than anything.

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Indeed, the bow pulpit is functioning very well as a conning tower in this picture.

The latest as of 1715 tonight CST. He was napping and the boat was too far gone for him to do anything but swim. He did indeed have and EPIRB, and he tried three times to swim down to it and failed to reach it. Unanswered is why it was not a float-fee setup or if it did float free and just got hung up below in the overhang. The USCG had no part in the rescue even though they had a plane searching. The sighting by the ship's crew was miraculous and apparently unalerted.

rgano said:

Unanswered is why it was not a float-fee setup or if it did float free and just got hung up below in the overhang.

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Many models, including mine, are fixed mount and manually activated. (I also have smaller portable units on inflatables)

The value of a high water alarm just went up in my mind.

wow, wow. how is this even possible. At first I didn't understand what it was from the photo. A very strange situation, and it is not clear how this could happen at all ...

JenMorri88 said:

wow, wow. how is this even possible. At first I didn't understand what it was from the photo. A very strange situation, and it is not clear how this could happen at all ...

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Easily...actually happens a lot, just not always the same outcome.

Okay, so I have to eat some crow today and take back some of my original post's comments - he did have some safety equipment on board, apparently could not reach it before the situation got out of hand.

Far be it from me to tell another boater how to set up the safety gear on their boat, but if you had a 32 foot boat and were planning an 86 mile off-shore excursion, how would you set it up to minimize the possibility of this kind of thing happening (clinging to a anchor pulpit for days)? This question is where the gurus here can really help the boating community.

The other thing that has me a bit puzzled is the fuel. I know quite a bit about Sea Rays since I've owned two a couple of feet shorter than this one. I assume a 32 Sea Ray boat is a gasser, (maybe twin outboards?), not sure of the range it had. My former Sea Ray boat with a single Merc-stern drive had a range of about 260 miles on an absolutely full 90 gallon tank, clean bottom, average load, and minimal chop/wind. With any kind of current, wind, load, and if he had huge motors (e.g. 400 HP twins), getting back could have become an issue. We may never know.

Do we know where he broke down versus where he drifted to?


If near the Gulf Stream...he could have drifted quite far.