Yep, it went over first thing this morning
Next to the Lesner Bridge. We had pretty stiff winds, with 5 foot waves, 6 fools on board an 18 footer. Damn shame, but I have a hard time feeling sorry for someone stupid enough to go out with Small Craft Warnings, cold temps, high waves in an overloaded boat. It is hard for me to understand that there are people that really have no common sense. We start this year with a phased in requirement to make the operation in Virginia waters illegal without a safe boating course.
Here's a C&P From one of the local newspapers, The Virginia Pilot
VIRGINIA BEACH - Two people are confirmed dead after a small boat capsized in an inlet in Virginia Beach with a half-dozen passengers this morning.
Crews from the
U.S. Coast Guard and the Virginia Beach Police Department teamed up in an attempt to rescue the passengers, with live footage broadcast on national cable networks.
Virginia Beach police spokesman Adam Bernstein said two people have died after the accident.
The Coast Guard received a mayday call came in around 9 a.m. from an 18-foot aluminum boat with six passengers in the Lynnhaven Inlet near Lesner Bridge. The boat was taking on water and on the verge of capsizing.
The Coast Guard sent a helicopter and a rescue boat and received assistance from local police and fire departments and from the
Virginia Pilots Association, a private organization. The boat was found north of Bay Bridge.
Billy Councelman, vice president of the Virginia Pilots Association, says he had boats out on the bay boarding ships when the call came.
"Actually, I was on shore during this whole operation, but the Maryland pilots and the Virginian pilots had two boats in bound from ships at Cape Henry when the mayday was heard. By the time my boat arrived, shortly after that the Coast Guard arrived with a Coast Guard diver, who picked up two of the survivors and airlifted them in a helicopter. Two of them, we found two more in the water that were lifted above the boat. The Virginia Beach Police and Virginia Beach Rescue Squad arrived on the scene shortly afterwards and picked up two others -- survivors," Councelman says.
It's unclear how the boat capsized. Councelman says the small fishing boat just started taking on water and then sank. Virginia Marine Police will investigate the cause of the incident.
