Posted on 07/01/2008 9:53:51 AM PDT by Islander7
GULFPORT --A small group of youngsters in sailboats made it safely back to shore Monday after one of them capsized in the Mississippi Sound during an afternoon thunderstorm, authorities said.
"The storm came up on them and they were trying to get everybody back when it happened," said Fire Chief Pat Sullivan.
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"The most heroic job, in my opinion, was the boy that brought his boat back in by himself," Clark said. "It was incredible. He looked to be 11 or 12 years old, out there battling against God and nature in a little-bitty sailboat."
(Excerpt) Read more at sunherald.com ...
You got that right. Look at our Armed Forces.
Checking the weather forecast before sending pre-adolescent kids out on the ocean, alone in their own sailboats, would be a good idea. This yacht club would have been sued into oblivion if one of these kids had drowned.
You do realize that squalls can come up quite suddenly and no amount of advance forecasting can predict them, right?
Well, I’m sure your meteorological skills are vast!
We have squalls pop up unannounced on a regular basis. Despite your FEAR, the local Yacht club is neither in control of, nor responsible for the weather.
In one pic, a kid on a Sunfish is planing on by a Coast Guard vessel. It's not unusual to see 1/2 or more Lasers (probably what they're racing) capsize during a regatta, and there's nothing wrong with it.
It gives the kids a chance to get some real life practice righting their boats in a brisk breeze that flopping them over next to the dock at the local yacht club won't, while having the safety net of a comittee boat at the ready.
The fact that only one boat capsized indicates it was a short lived squall, and not likely forecast.
Well said.
This is not a newsworthy item in the first place.
What next “Woman stubs toe getting out of Shower”?
Ah, excuse me. I was here, were you? It was a heck of a blow, trees down, power outages, lots of lightning, street lights on at 2pm, etc.
The ‘seas’ are flat because we NEVER have swells; the sound is swallow and protected by off shore islands....and the wind was blowing from the north, off shore. Flattens the waves nicely, but causes a very confused, choppy sea.
If your kid was a couple of miles off shore in a small boat, alone in a severe storm, you wouldn’t find it news worthy at all, right?
Oddly, the article didn't indicate a missing sailor.
Sometimes the parents can be more frightening than the experience.
No. I wouldn't, because I'd have confidence in him being able to do exactly what he did in this case. Or he wouldn't be allowed out there in the first place.
You are looking in the wrong place for sympathy. I started sailing when I was four years old, I've capsized race dinghies on four continents. we used to have obstacle races when I was a kid, sail one leg backwards, the next without a rudder, capsize and right the boat three times on the next..
When it blew so hard that the club canceled racing for fear their rescue capabilities would be overwhelmed we kids all went sailing! - just for the sheer exhilaration of planing across the wavetops - what a rush!
It's one of those times in life when you just can't help that involuntary YEEEEEE-HAAAAA! scream.
Yes, I'm sure it was a nasty squall, and shallow waters do chop up in such conditions, but it still isn't a national news news story - I'm sorry.
Though I'm glad it all ended safely.
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