A couple weeks ago a boat left here bound for Southern waters and ran into a storm 200 miles from Bermuda. The boat broke apart and began leaking...no safety equipment to speak of. (no sat phone, no eprib, no life raft...) they had a few flairs, after 12 days and loss of one life they were picked up by a passing freighter who took them to Bermuda.
Gulf Stream gale ends sailing trip in tragedy : The Martha's Vineyard Times (http://www.mvtimes.com/marthas-vineyard/article.php?id=3612)

I just read another account about a sailing ship off Nantucket that only had one survival suit..(luckily they had an eprib) and the CG had to rescue people from the water..... (that said I noticed two people both in survival suits getting off the chopper in Nantucket)

What is it with these guys? How is it possible you take on the open ocean for long periods of time without the full arsnial of raft(s), sat phones, and safety equipment? It is mind boggling to me.

Maine-built galleon sinks off Nantucket - BostonHerald.com (http://www.bostonherald.com/news/regional/view/20101208coast_guard_rescues_2_off_nantucket/srvc=home&position=recent)

I know it's crazy. A friend of mine told me this story when it happened. It's both sad and annoying at the same time. I wouldn't go 40 miles offshore without certain safety things. Even in August.

It's a money thing I would say. It costs allot to be safe..

please tell me to 2 people jumped off the stern of that 3 master after the CG told them to say they could pick them out of the water. That boat was high out of the water and not near going down at that moment at least, don't know.

Natural selection at work. My dad rescued 2 Russians on a sinking sloop last year with zero safety gear. Only a hand held VHF. People are idiots.
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I use to think it was about money...but now I don't believe it is a money thing...not for people with 120' boats or those delivering boats to distant wintering grounds. Most of these people have plenty of money. I believe it is an arrogance thing...no one thinks it will happen to them.

It is a money thing for the guy in a 22' CC with a single outboard who stuffs a fuel bladder on deck and attempts to run 180miles offshore to catch a fish... you know the type...his fishing real cost more than all the safety gear he has on board combined. Equally foolish however.

Anything can happen out there even to those who are fully geared up...and it is impossible to prepare for all events but when common sense is dismissed that is when you better stay on land.

Who in there right mind would go out to the high seas without communications? With today's tech, you can even rent a sat phone by the month. I've ordered one for my boat and I have no plans to venture more than 100 miles from land. Even that boat in the Antartic..they had to send them a sat phone on the CRUISE SHIP! WTF??? That capt should be hung by the yardarm IMO.

I read that first article and said...I am saddened to hear this guy died but these guys were stupid to even leave the dock. Did they ever do a safety check before a voyage like this?

The Coast Guard says a three-masted sailing vessel built in Maine to accommodate people with disabilities has sunk 120 miles southeast off Nantucket.

non-profit with no money.

what is it with all the jackoffs on stellwagon in boats that have no business being there?

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Is it just me or does anyone else think that the picture of the daughter smiling and with 2 thumbs up and her being quoted they were drinking whiskey and coke with the tanker crew a little disconcerning. Her Dad just died in a horrible accident and she is drinking whiskey and smiling for photographers! Maybe it's just me but I would be a lot more solem after loosing my Dad in that manner.

non-profit with no money.

what is it with all the jackoffs on stellwagon in boats that have no business being there?

Being broke doesn't excuse stupidity.

Being broke doesn't excuse stupidity.

Neither do good intentions or greed or anything else.

non-profit with no money.

what is it with all the jackoffs on stellwagon in boats that have no business being there?

The Zodiac trolling 50s in 4-6s last year comes to mind.

Stellwagen and Race Point are like a micro-climate. It can be sunny and beautiful with 1 ft seas 5 miles away and it's raging at SWC and RP.

We sold our 22 cc and moved up to the Nauset after too many times of near death supercells coming back to Green Harbor from the SWC.

We sold our 22 cc and moved up to the Nauset after too many times of near death supercells coming back to Green Harbor from the SWC.

They're not any more fun in the Carribean with 140 feet of waterline under you.

One sloppy summer afternoon between CH and Gay Head my son asked me "whats that?" what what? "keep looking, there is a guy over there who popped up in the waves." Soon I saw a guy in a yak battling the waves, it was rough and blowin 25-30 and the current was crankin. I approached him and asked if he needed a hand. "No he said...I am OK." I said, you don't look OK, you sure?, its a long paddle back in", "No, I am fine, thanks"....I let him be and headed in. Who knows what happened after that.:confused: He did have a life vest on though.

Should have named that BlindFaith, it looked more like a half ass HS attempt to build a ship with old pallets and tar than a boat. Supposedly this guy was an ultra religious nut wackjob. bet he figured that Jesus would save him, I'm fine with praying to god, but at least row towards shore while yer prayin.....

Is it just me or does anyone else think that the picture of the daughter smiling and with 2 thumbs up and her being quoted they were drinking whiskey and coke with the tanker crew a little disconcerning. Her Dad just died in a horrible accident and she is drinking whiskey and smiling for photographers! Maybe it's just me but I would be a lot more solem after loosing my Dad in that manner.

I was thinking the same thing. She doesn't look very sad.

I thought the same...kind of too cheerful but she probably thought she was going to die after 12 days and no way to contact anyone and then a ship saves them ....or perhaps she just inherited a house on the cape?

What is it with stinkboaters? :confused:

CAPE MAY — One man is missing and presumed dead and a second is in critical condition after the aging wooden party boat they were transporting south sank in the Delaware Bay early Thursday morning.
The U.S. Coast Guard, alerted by the New Jersey State Police and by an emergency satellite beacon that sounded at 1:35 a.m., was able to save one man.
Petty Officer 3rd Class John Opsal, a Coast Guard rescue swimmer from Air Station Atlantic City, could not get the second man out of heavy sea, with waves of almost eight feet and steady 29-knot winds, seven miles from this resort.
“It was rough. He made a couple attempts to grab him but couldn’t get a hold of him. He sank with some of the debris,” said Coast Guard Petty Officer 3rd Class Jonathan Lindberg.
Sgt. Steve Jones of the New Jersey State Police identified the missing man as Gregory Arlotta, 62, of Fort Myers, Fla. and the survivor is Steve Hopkins, 42, of Washington, D.C. He said Arlotta had just purchased the vessel Sea Wolf in New York.
The Coast Guard and the State Police are still trying to figure out why the boat sank. All they know is the vessel started taking on water and the men got into a life raft, but the sea was rough and Arlotta was unable to stay in the raft.
“We don’t know how it happened yet. We just know what was there when we got there,” Lindberg said.
Arlotta had purchased the 65-foot vessel several days earlier and was taking it to New Orleans.
The Sea Wolf had operated for decades with other party boats from the Sheepshead Bay Piers, and according to one observer, the vessel was in no shape for such a trip this time of year.
“The month of December has a lot of wind. I’m not surprised she broke up like that. She had a bad problem in her port quarter. She always listed that way,” said Steve Cannizzo, who operates a website for fishermen in the area. Cannizzo said the men purchased the boat for less than $20,000. It was appraised for $40,000 but listed for sale on Craigslist for $29,000. Cannizzo said long-time owner Eddie Moraski, who is in his 70s and recently broke his hip, had decided to get out of the business after a half-century of taking people fishing.
Moraski could not be reached for comment. Phones at the pier where Sea Wolf docked went right to an answering machine Thursday.
Cannizzo said the men were last seen leaving Sheepshead Bay, which connects to the Raritan Bay, on Wednesday morning. He said they were pushing the boat hard and smoke was coming out its stacks before they geared it back, maybe indicating a problem.
“This boat was not in the best of condition. They were running that boat hard and then they yanked it back like they overheated the engines,” Cannizzo said.
“If only somebody could have taken them aside and said: ‘This is not the right boat to bring on a long trip.’“
Cannizzo said the men asked a local captain navigational advice before leaving.
“They packed very light and got on that vessel cold. They really didn’t shake it down too much. A 45- to 50-year-old wood boat starts loosening up. The pumps ran all the time. It’s a sad set of circumstances,” Cannizzo said.
The boat was recently listed for sale as a 1963 Gilligan, an inshore fishing vessel that fished for porgies and sea bass mostly within 10 miles of the dock. The Sea Wolf had twin diesels, one of which Cannizzo said was recently rebuilt. The boat was known for its woodwork and one time was considered one of the best Gilligans in the region. Cannizzo said it just aged, as wooden boats do.
The Sea Wolf had an emergency position-indicating radio beacon, or EPIRB, which sends off a satellite signal upon hitting the water. It initially came to the Coast Guard district headquarters in Portsmouth, Va. and was relayed to Sector Delaware Bay. The sinking was at the mouth of the bay but on the bay side of the line that separates the ocean from the bay, the Coast Guard said. The EPIRB gave the Coast Guard and New Jersey State Police, which is also involved in the investigation, the last known position.
Lindberg said the Coast Guard received no mayday call on the radio but the State Police may have. The State Police first notified the Coast Guard of the sinking and Lindberg said they had a report of a boat taking on water.
Air Station Atlantic City sent a MH-65 rescue helicopter. Coast Guard stations in Cape May and Indian River Inlet, Del. dispatched 47-foot motor life boats.
Lindberg said they arrived to find a debris field with most of the boat already had gone down. Arlotta and Hopkins were not wearing survival suits, and the water temperature was about 36 degrees. Lindberg said cold water charts indicate maximum survival time without suits is four hours.
“You lose function in two hours. You’re talking four hours tops for survivability,” Lindberg said.
Petty Officer 1st Class Mike Lutz said Hopkins was pulled aboard one of the 47-footers before being hoisted to the helicopter.
“He was taken to AtlantiCare Regional Medical Center in Atlantic City in critical condition,” said Lutz.
Lindbergh said Arlotta was “floating face down and unresponsive” before he sank with some debris.
Lindberg said the Coast Guard has no plans to retrieve the body or salvage what is left of the vessel. He said the “majority of it” had sunk before the Coast Guard arrived. Since the Sea Wolf could pose a threat to navigation, the Coast Guard will put out a warning message to mariners to avoid the location. Lindberg said the debris could sink or wash up on shore.
It remains unclear what Arlotta intended to do with the Sea Wolf but he told captains on Sheepshead Bay he was not going to use it for fishing.

At least they had an epirb... Otherwise both would be dead.
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Your right, there are many boneheaded power boaters too who should not be out there but please stop defending the sailors...You are just making my point!!!:)

I hate to stereotype and this does not apply to everyone but as a group they do come across as an arrogant and pompous bunch. Hey don't get me wrong, there are a lot of fishermen I know who are #^&#^&#^&#^&#^&#^&#^&s too
(The youngest single handed circumnavigation "award" takes the cake. While they may be equipped they are not that wise. )