Charter Down... - Striper Talk Striped Bass Fishing, Surfcasting, Boating

JohnR · 06-20-2005, 07:48 AM

Any details on the Charter that went down in Vineyard Sound?

All I know is that it was not one of ours, I think the vessel was the Last Call? Out of New Bedford?

From the snippet I heard on the radio the clients were from PA. The vessel had engine failure and was being towed when confused seas in the Bay flipped the charter boat. If what i caught from the radio is correct, the Captain lost his life but the other PIW were rescued and are in the hospital.

bluefin22 · 06-20-2005, 07:57 AM

Heres the update. Def a sad weekend when something like this happens. My wishes go out to the capts family.

Had to give assistance to a stranded down vessel on sat. Much calmer in Boston Harbor, but def makes me aware of the dangers of towing a vessel in.

NEW BEDFORD - (6/20/05) A 50-year-old boat captain died yesterday when his 25-foot commercial vessel capsized near Quicks Hole, a waterway separating Pasque and Nashawena islands in the Elizabeth Islands chain. Ken Murray of Fairhaven, owner and operator of the New Bedford-based charter fishing boat The Last Call, could not be resuscitated after being plucked from choppy Buzzards Bay waters. Murray's four passengers survived the incident and were taken by the Coast Guard to Menemsha station on Martha's Vineyard. Two were taken to Martha's Vineyard Hospital, where they remained in stable condition last night, Coast Guard spokesman Jay Cadorette said. The other two were taken to the marine safety office in Providence, R.I., to be interviewed by investigators. All four were visiting the area from Pennsylvania.
The Coast Guard Woods Hole station received a mayday call at 11:45 a.m. from a mariner who said he had been towing a disabled boat to shore when the vessel began taking on water and rolled, forcing the five men into 60-degree seas. Two other boaters came to the aid of the passengers, one scooping up four of them who were wearing life jackets and another retrieving Murray, who was already unconscious and not wearing a vest. The Coast Guard dispatched an HH-60 helicopter, a 110-foot cutter and a 21-foot small boat from the Woods Hole and Menemsha stations.

An EMT and rescue swimmer performed CPR on Murray at the scene, but efforts to revive him failed. His body was taken to the coroner's office on Martha's Vineyard. ''From what I understand, it's being considered a drowning, but we don't know what happened before he went into the water,'' Cadorette said. Quicks Hole slices between two private islands owned by the Forbes family in the Elizabeth Islands chain, which juts southwest from Cape Cod. It is a popular fishing spot, but the current moving between Buzzards Bay and Vineyard Sound can be dangerous.

Conditions yesterday were rougher than normal. ''It can be a hazard,'' said a spokesman from the Coast Guard Menemsha station. ''When you have such a massive amount of water going into a small area, it's like a washer.''

Swells yesterday were measured between 6 and 8 feet when the small craft capsized, Cadorette said, and winds were whipping around 20 knots. The Coast Guard successfully recovered the boat.
(Published: June 20, 2005)

likwid · 06-20-2005, 08:35 AM

I wonder why Seatow wasn't called.
The boat that was towing them should have jogged them in place till the proper people for towing arrived.

Not that I want to see it happen but someone will get blamed for this probably.

RIROCKHOUND · 06-20-2005, 08:59 AM

Head it going down on 16 yesterday at work. sad to hear, they were trying to medivac him out, but all the yokall's on 16 doing radio checks kept stepping on my reception...

Vectorfisher · 06-20-2005, 11:35 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by RIROCKHOUND

Head it going down on 16 yesterday at work. sad to hear, they were trying to medivac him out, but all the yokall's on 16 doing radio checks kept stepping on my reception...

Tell me about it

I think they are going to have to designate a channel just for radio checks

zacs · 06-20-2005, 12:58 PM

major bummer. he was just a few slips down from my main fishing partner.

chris L · 06-20-2005, 01:00 PM

zacs
how was Alaska ? any large fish ?

zacs · 06-20-2005, 01:25 PM

don't want to hijack such a sad thread, but AK was sweet. I will post a pic tonight. Hard not to catch fish when you have 20 hrs of daylight. You are going out in a few weeks, right?

chris L · 06-20-2005, 02:31 PM

July 2

teaser · 06-20-2005, 03:28 PM

Sad to see it happen again, that water is pretty rough at times on a good day.

I was out there just before that happened! I came through Quick's Hole at 11:22 which is the time the tide was just turning around. When that tide turns and the current is going the other way it can be VERY nasty. This must have happened very soon after I went through.

I almost didn't chance coming through it as it was that bad. They're guessing when they say the wind was around 20 knots ... well it was more like 30-35! When I went through the waves were already at the 8' mark. I'll tell you my bunghole was so tight going through that you couldn't have gotten a needle in there with a jackhammer!

I took my dad out for Father's day fishing on Lucas's Shoal and it was okay until about 10:15 and you could feel the weather just change in an instant. All the boats out there were packing it in pretty quick and heading in.

I stopped by another boat before going through (an 18' open boat with a guy and his family) and asked if he was okay because he had beached himself on Nausweena Island inside the hole, he said he's fine just not taking a chance going through the hole yet with the water as turbulent as it was ... SMART idea!

I have a 22' Quest center console which sits very high in the water and when I went through the mouth of Quick's the waves were HUGE! :

When I rolled up the face of the waves and came down the backside of them my pulpit would sink in about the middle of the next wave coming and put about 100 gallons of water in my boat over the bow.

I had both of my bilge pumps going (Rule 1500's) just to be on the safer side of making it through, my dad and I both had on our S.O.S. Suspender life jackets, my dad's 70 years old and he's fished all his life out there and he said he's never seen it that bad. I asked him if he wanted to wait it out and he said he's already wet so what the hell, let's go.

Even with the experience we both have with Quick's Hole, I don't think I'll go through again if its like that, just don't need to chance it. My condolence's go out to the skipper's family. With 5 people on board and only 4 life jackets he at least made sure his guests were seen to for safety but he should've had that 5th one for his own.

I counted my blessings when I got home and said a few for the skipper and his family when I picked up this mornings paper and saw what happened. He will be missed, unfortunately people take too many chances out there and something like this ends up happening.

Be careful out there everybody! Just when you think you control the sea she comes back and slaps you into reality and shows you who the real boss is. If anyone knows the skipper and his family please pass along my sympathies to them.

Tight lines to all.

likwid · 06-20-2005, 03:40 PM

Winds were N/NE hard and the tide was in the opposite direction.

Quicks stands right up in conditions like that.

MAC · 06-20-2005, 03:48 PM

That's a sad thing. Too bad he didn't put on a life vest too.

Christian · 06-20-2005, 04:07 PM

talked with a guy today while at work, saw he had a fishing hat and yelled out hey, you like striper fishing!?, anyways he had just talked with the captain a few minutes before it sank. stinks he had to go out that way, just because of not having a life jacket.

PNG · 06-20-2005, 06:00 PM

He was a real nice guy. I only knew him from the dock and occasional chatting, spoke to him out in the sound a couple of weeks ago. Sad.

As has been mentioned here Qiucks can stand up in a hurry, I have also seen it ROCK HUGE in the sound where they meet but be flat inside. Weird thing was you could drive around the mountains.

Lifejackets work.

squiddler · 06-20-2005, 08:45 PM

There is a designated channel for radio checks.... its channel 9, which handles all hailing and most commercial advisories. Radio check on 9, never 16 which is for emegency and CG use only.

The Capt. of that boat put jackets on all his passengers, but not himself, and it is against the CFR to allow a non-designated tow boat perform an emergency tow. The hook should have been dropped to stop the boat, or the other vessel was to stand thew boat off till proper help arrived. Sad instance, but totally avoidable.

Mr. Sandman · 06-22-2005, 11:52 AM

http://www.mvgazette.com/news/2005/0...hole_death.php

We have all seen it turn ugly......when the tide is hummin and b#^&#^&#^&#^&#^&g a stiff wind, look out walls of water seem to appear and turns into one of those white knuckle rides home.

The statistics for man overboard survival without pfd ON at the time he enters the water are hair-raising...It is in the low single digits.

Wear the SOS or belt at a min. It ain't that bad.

zacs · 06-22-2005, 01:22 PM

scuttlebut on the waterfront today is that he had a heart attack and didn't drown. this is rumor, but thought i'd share.
regardless, a very sad sittuation.
_Z_