Posted on 03/03/2009 7:02:57 PM PST by metmom
The Coast Guard called off its search for three missing football players at sunset Tuesday.
The news came after crews combed choppy waters off the Florida Gulf Coast for a third full day since NFL players Marquis Cooper and Corey Smith and a third friend William Bleakley disappeared. Their fishing boat capsized in stormy seas Saturday evening.
One of the four on the excursion, Nick Schuyler, survived.
(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...
Yeah, but these are famous people. Famous people deserve more because......well, because.
</sarc>
Well I am Merchant Marine. You can survive. I am headed from Tampa to Key West tommorrow and I will sure keep a lookout. The CG is lame if they think you can not survive.
Their chances of being alive are zero with the water temperature.
Very very sad.
If they had dropped about $1200 for a decent covered 6-person life raft - they would be alive today. They are compact and deploy quickly. The ocean can kill you very quickly.
Going out 30 to 50 miles in a small one engine boat withpout a pinger and good life raft is suicide. My life is worth $1,200 and these guys had/have more money than I do.
Is a E what you said the same as what are fishermen use up here in the frigid waters..life saving suits?
Is the water that far out down in Florida cold? or Warm?
We also use devices that are locators. (cant think of proper terminology right now)
IIRC the guy who had the boat was an avid fisherman along with his Dad.
Did the storm come after they were out at sea?
We lose about one F/V a year up here.
The old time Captains have a hard time with some idiot deck hands bringing meth aboard.
Use to be just boozers in the past and that is easy to detect before leaving port.
Tell that to a sailor who has the will to live.
The lone survivor said they were trying to pull up anchor when they got hit by a side wave... I suspect the anchor was in mud and they were all trying to pull it up.. four large guys all on one side of the boat at the same time would have made the boat very easy to send turtle... very sad... even though it was only 21 feet it was a boat built with the higher sides which can sometimes give a sense of security and taking chances.
I hope you find them alive.
I doubt it though.
$200 on an EPIRB woulda worked too.
Yep. After so many hours it becomes a recovery search.
If they dont become fish/crab food that far out they may never wash ashore.
So sad.
drift is right.
Awe man.
Yes, it came up after they were out there. The morning was calm, someone commented on Fox the calm is actually normal right before a cold front moves in this time of year.... when it hit it hit fast and a deep sea fishing boat came back in early because they were taking waves over the bow and it was miserable.
Yep. The CG looking in the wrong place or they would of found em. They had life jackets.
It’s not about will, these guys I’m sure had the will to live. The CG searched well outside the parameters of the HUMAN BODY to survive. Will won’t trump human nature.
From the start of the search with the water temps what they were the only hope of finding someone alive would be if they stayed with the boat and were able to keep their body out of the water, at least off and on.
The CG was out in full force when the probability of finding them alive was .0000000000000000000000000000000000001 %, they did all they could and should be commended.
Same here.
From our home to the store it is a whole different weather situation.
Cold and windy in town.
Not sure 2 engines would have made a difference here. But $1200 on some kind of “ditch bag” (life raft etc) could have made a difference.
Emergency position indicating radiobeacons (EPIRBs) use satellite communications. The Coast Guard would know exactly where you were in about 4 minutes.
The water in the gulf is 68 degrees right now. It generally doesn’t get below 60 in winter. In the summer it can get to high 80s.
Because of the high number of pleasure boaters with little experience there are a lot of people that get into trouble.
One guy had 11 people on a 12 foot boat. From 5 months to 68 years. They stayed offshore too long and were swamped by a storm. Luckily they were only a few miles offshore and the water was warm.
I hadn’t thought of that but its likely you are correct. Better to cut the rope.
Couple choppers a Falcon and a cutter. Not much in a 50 mile square sector.
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