For four or five days we were captivated by the search for four fishing buddies who left Clearwater Pass on the morning of Saturday, February 28th. The national media was captured, primarily because two of the boaters were NFL players. The result of the massive search was one miracle and the loss of three young men to the wrath of Mother Nature.
On the third day, Monday, March 2, the Coast Guard found one of the fishermen on top of their overturned boat about 38 miles from the beaches of Sand Key. Dazed and suffering from hypothermia, the lone survivor is apparently doing well with no long term effects - at least physically. The names and details are not important, since this scene is played out hundreds of times each year with better and worse results.
As facts were unraveled, it is clear this tragedy could have been easily avoided. While the media, family and friends confidently waited and professed the experience of the owner of the boat, that clearly wasn’t the case. Hindsight is perfectly clear, of course, but the elements of safe boating were missing from the beginning of the trip. The purpose of this post is not to second guess what happened, but to offer real information about basic minimum safety requirements for staying alive and well while navigating the gulf.
As the events were played out during the several days of air and sea rescue attempts, a group of experienced boaters discussed the facts as they were developed almost everyday. The attached document is the result of a consensus opinion of what would be safe boating minimum standards for navigating along our shores.
It is my hope that readers will copy the document titled Gulf Boating and Fishing Safely. Give the information to anyone you know that spends time on our waters as boaters or passengers. If the information keeps just one boat, one person or one passenger from suffering the fate of the four fishing buddies enjoying a day on what appeared to be a serene day in the Gulf of Mexico, the effort will be worth my time and yours to pass along.
Tags: boating, fishing, gulf of mexico, life saving equipment, requirements, safety
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this was a tragedy.. thanks for the great info. Hopefully it can save some lives.
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