Posted on 03/02/2009 9:40:47 AM PST by rawhide
UPDATE: A family member tells us that the Coast Guard has found a boat with one person clinging to the side. We will have the details posted here as we learn them.
http://www.tampabays10.com/news/local/story.aspx?storyid=101513&catid=8
(Excerpt) Read more at tampabays10.com ...
Prayers going up for all four of these men.
wow, I hope the others are found alive. How hard can it be to find these people with modern equipment these days?? Bright orange vest, come onnn
This is good news because it defines the search area...
The winds were causing alot of white caps making the search difficult.
My eyes may be bad but I thought I read that a boat with NFL players was missing? Is this a different story?
Seas yesterday were 10-14 feet, just a bit less today. Spotting someone, no matter what color the vest, among whitecaps and waves that size is very difficult.
same story 2 nfl players, 2 friends...4 on the boat altogether
gps embedded lifevests anyone?
If the vests had a metal foil attached, they would show up on RADAR.
The Coast Guard and the Auxiliary urge people to connect their GPS units to their VHF radios; using the new Rescue 21, any distress call will give an accurate position.
Hmmmm... Due to winds in the area or far offshore? That's not just 'small craft advisory' time, that's got to be 'small craft warning' time (or perhaps even gale warning), isn't it?
These professional athletes have a lot of muscle which does not like to float thus making treading water more difficult. We don't know the condition of the life vests or if they had flares. Almost every new life jacket has a whistle and a mirror. That mirror is better than anything. The USCG will board boats to make sure these items are there to save lives, and they do. People don't realize this until it is to late.
Depends on the size of the craft. Large boats will have EPIRBs to send distress/location signals to satellite. Small boats generally only have life vests (or should have). VHF radio signals from a small boat in rough seas are also very iffy, especially considering the distance off shore.
Prayers for those men.
Small or large boat, if you venture offshore you should have an EPIRB on board. They are great devices that transmit your position and your boat identification. I wouldn’t leave shore without my unit on board.
The 920th Rescue Wing stationed at Patrick Air Force Base has joined the search with a HH-60G Pave Hawk helicopter and a HC-130P/N extended range refueling fixed wing airplane.
Problem was they started out Saturday AM (my husband was thinking of taking our boat out too, but he uses the weather radio for advisories and they always check the NOAA sites.) Weather and seas were actually quite nice Saturday AM, and my husband toyed with going into the Bay or just offshore for a short trip.
If they had come back by early afternoon, or just stayed inshore, they’d been fine. But evidently they were trying to go out 50 miles (why, I have no idea...grouper season is closed, and I can’t think of another reason to go that far offshore.)
Saturday afternoon things got nasty, and Sunday was absolutely awful. Still not great today.
http://www.srh.noaa.gov/tbw/TampaBayMarineWeather.htm#
Agree, but what percentage of small boats (<30') have you seen with EPIRBs? I would add that you don't have to venture off shore to get into serious trouble. I got caught in a summer squall once in a 20' boat--terrifying--but it taught me to pay more attention to the weather. Gotta respect Mother Nature.
Spotting someone bobbing around is a lot harder than it sounds, even if you know where to look you may never see him. It’s a big ocean.
Jack
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.