Darwin gets a double.....

[JupiterSunsation]

17 ft, no EPIRB and a winter Bahamas crossing....not a good combo!



MIAMI - The Coast Guard has ended the search for two overdue boaters, missing since Dec. 13 when they set out on a trip to Bimini, Bahamas, from Haulover Inlet in Miami.

Officials announced Saturday they had suspended the week-long hunt for the pair.

Richard Alicea and Edwin Pritchard, both Miami residents, were traveling in a 17-foot, center-console style Key Largo pleasure craft. The boat was white with a green-blue stripe.

A family member contacted Coast Guard search-and-rescue coordinators at Sector Miami Sunday after Alicea and Pritchard did not arrived at their final destination as expected.

The Coast Guard immediately launched a search covering more than 47,000 square-mile area from Miami to Port Canaveral, Fla., out to the Bahamas.
Copyright © 2009, South Florida Sun-Sentinel

 

[Wrinkleface]

:banghead:

 

[Ratickle]

I really do wish boating drivers licenses were mandatory......

 

[BUIZILLA]

and the pilot that saw them on the deserted island north of Bimini, took a phone pic, and didn't tell anyone about it for 4 days either... that was on the nightly news on Thursday I think... he took the pic on Sunday...

 

[waybomb]

I really do wish boating drivers licenses were mandatory......

Just like a driver's license keep idiots out of cars?
Like pilot's license keeps incompitents out of left seats?
Like a chaufer's license provides safe taxi and limo drivers?
Like gun licenses prevent deaths?

And all the money collected in those endeavors helps how?

 

[ThrottleUp Props]

and the pilot that saw them on the deserted island north of Bimini, took a phone pic, and didn't tell anyone about it for 4 days either... that was on the nightly news on Thursday I think... he took the pic on Sunday...

Oh my gosh... is that true?

Julie

 

[phragle]

Just sit right back and you'll hear a tale
A tale of a fateful trip,
That started from this tropic port,
Aboard this tiny ship.
The mate was a mighty sailin' man,
The Skipper brave and sure,
Five passengers set sail that day,
For a three hour tour,
A three hour tour.

The weather started getting rough,
The tiny ship was tossed.
If not for the courage of the fearless crew
The Minnow would be lost.
The Minnow would be lost.

The ship aground on the shore of this uncharted desert isle
With Gilligan,
The Skipper too...............

 

[Wrinkleface]

Just sit right back and you'll hear a tale
A tale of a fateful trip,
That started from this tropic port,
Aboard this tiny ship.
The mate was a mighty sailin' man,
The Skipper brave and sure,
Five passengers set sail that day,
For a three hour tour,
A three hour tour.

The weather started getting rough,
The tiny ship was tossed.
If not for the courage of the fearless crew
The Minnow would be lost.
The Minnow would be lost.

The ship aground on the shore of this uncharted desert isle
With Gilligan,
The Skipper too...............

Damn Dude, U should B a song writer!!!:sifone:

 

[BUIZILLA]

Oh my gosh... is that true?

Julie

yup, I saw it on 10 o clock news Thursday night on local Chan 7 and they had the family on there confirming the faces in the pic and they even interviewed the pilot... not sure if he told anybody before Thursday, but he said he didn't hear about the missing boaters until Thursday, but he called it in at that moment he heard about them.

 

[Ratickle]

Just like a driver's license keep idiots out of cars?
Like pilot's license keeps incompitents out of left seats?
Like a chaufer's license provides safe taxi and limo drivers?
Like gun licenses prevent deaths?

And all the money collected in those endeavors helps how?

I'd go with Coast Guard administered, funds to Coast Guard patrol operations.

And I do think all of the drivers ed classes and licensing helps, you'll never keep all idiots safe though......

 

[phragle]

you'll never keep all idiots safe though......

Darwin doesn't want us too... idiots breed like rabbits.....

 

[imco offshore]

well i have got to say growing up in miami and being in a boat as a kid ,,it really isn,t that odd to that... we usto go to bimini after work ( we worked in a marina) in 2 ,,18' boston whalers just to get their 12 % st pauli girl beer,we sometimes come home that night or ,,,we would drink at the "end of the world saloon" sleep in our boats and come home in the morning..and we used hand held compasses,,,,,and now we need a giant screen gps, or you we can,t use the boat it,s broke.,,you can come home from bimini at night without a compass, IF you know what the lights profile of miami look like,and hit haulover dead on ,,,,what would u guys do if your gps broke,,park the boat,,,come on???

 

[Ratickle]

well i have got to say growing up in miami and being in a boat as a kid ,,it really isn,t that odd to that... we usto go to bimini after work ( we worked in a marina) in 2 ,,18' boston whalers just to get their 12 % st pauli girl beer,we sometimes come home that night or ,,,we would drink at the "end of the world saloon" sleep in our boats and come home in the morning..and we used hand held compasses,,,,,and now we need a giant screen gps, or you we can,t use the boat it,s broke.,,you can come home from bimini at night without a compass, IF you know what the lights profile of miami look like,and hit haulover dead on ,,,,what would u guys do if your gps broke,,park the boat,,,come on???

We used to go over 50 miles offshore from the Columbia River fishing in a 16 foot single outboard boat when I was a kid a lot. Had two compasses in case one broke.

Used to hate it when the fog would come in though......:ack2:

 

[imco offshore]

exactly.. bimini is 48 miles you can see land for a while then you cross the gulf streem go about 20 mins, then you see land again (bimini..or south bimini) if you were off a little.

 

[cuda]

I really do wish boating drivers licenses were mandatory......

You can't legislate common sense. Do you really think things would have been different if one of them had a boater's license in their wallet?

 

[BUIZILLA]

Had two compasses in case one broke.

if it wasn't for my trusty $20 Airguide compass in the late 60's, we would've ended up in Portugal a couple times.. :sifone:

 

[cuda]

I used to go out farther than that in my fishboat with one engine, one battery, and no radio. The only difference is I didn't have to cross the Gulfstream. I don't need a license to know better than that. I've been boating in Florida since I was 16. You just have to remember that Mother Nature ain't no lady.

 

[Ratickle]

You can't legislate common sense. Do you really think things would have been different if one of them had a boater's license in their wallet?

With the proper training to get that license, I think there would be a pretty good chance of a different result.

Kinda like living up here in the snow-belt. If I go on a trip with iffy weather in the forecast I have my cell, thermal boots, carharts, gloves, stocking hat, food and water in the Blazer.

Common sense says you can make that trip almost everytime if nothing goes wrong, just need to have preperation for the un-planned. Look at those two brothers who took a flats boat across the Atlantic.

 

[cuda]

if it wasn't for my trusty $20 Airguide compass in the late 60's, we would've ended up in Portugal a couple times.. :sifone:

I never go to sea without a compass. All a gps is is a radio receiver. Radios can, and do break down. I've never had the battery go dead in a compass. I also carry a ship's bell for fog. If you've never been caught in thick fog, you don't know how freaky that can be.

 

[cuda]

With the proper training to get that license, I think there would be a pretty good chance of a different result.

Kinda like living up here in the snow-belt. If I go on a trip with iffy weather in the forecast I have my cell, thermal boots, carharts, gloves, stocking hat, food and water in the Blazer.

Common sense says you can make that trip almost everytime if nothing goes wrong, just need to have preperation for the un-planned. Look at those two brothers who took a flats boat across the Atlantic.

Experience is the best proper training, not a license.