Dreams Submerged

[Tally Ho]

M

This a new form of the kids coming home due to situation all screwed up.

ouch.

Feel bad for them, but they don’t appear to be prepared (both experience and financially).

Glad they survived physically...financial disaster is still coming.

Greg

 

[topcat0399]

This is something I would expect from those at sailing anarchy. I have a karma wish for YOU....

 

[Bob J.]

I think it's sad what happened to these folks. Obviously the boat they purchased had a keel that was compromised. There is a fine line between the have & have nots. Be mindful of how critical / judgemental one is, your short straw could be drawn next....

 

[Hello Below]

they already got 1800 back, im sure they will recoup their mistake

Not going to watch the clock but this couple have been doing alright financially since the story was posted as one of foxnews.com's top articles.

 

[kpgraci]

Well, they were lucky it happened there instead of 300 miles off coast. Two ways to look at this. Neither they or their boat were prepared to do what they were attempting, so that makes them dolts, but also I'm wholly in favor of reckless abandon, something lacking from today's baby proofed world. Hopefully they emerge wiser but still unafraid.

 

[BigEasy]

Yes, I feel sorry for them also...

"EXPERIENCE"... what you needed to know AFTER you needed it.

Couldn't have said it better.
We don't know the entire circumstances.... wind, current, visibility etc.; however, entering an unfamiliar harbor at night is never a good thing. Definitely feel sorry for them, and thankfully they survived. This is certainly not an isolated incident. We have seen more experienced crews run afoul in the past few months; one in CA that hit the pier and demolished the boat and more recently again in CA, the one that washed up on a rock getty. Hopefully this couple will learn from their bad experience, of their own making, before attempting another adventure.

 

[Kings Gambit]

Coast Pilot 5, Ch 5 2017
"Johns Pass, about 3 miles north of Blind Pass, between Treasure Island and Sand Key, affords passage for small craft from the Gulf to the north part of Boca Ciega Bay. A marked channel leads from the Gulf of Mexico through Johns Pass thence north to the Intracoastal Waterway. The channel is reportedly subject to considerable shoaling between Daybeacon 1 and Buoy 3. Extreme caution and local knowledge of the channel conditions is advised. The entrance to the channel is marked by a light and the channel is marked by lights, buoys and daybeacons. In Johns Pass the flood current sets northeast at an average velocity of 2.0 knots and ebbs southwest at an average velocity of 1.5 knots. (See Tidal Current Tables for daily predictions.) (311) State Route 699 highway bridge"

Now, do you think the skipper read this b/f attempting the Pass? Who is going to see "daybeacon" 1 in the fog at night? In addition, the chart shows Buoy 3 along the south margin of the "channel", suggesting that you must deviate (dog-leg) to the extreme right side of the channel to pass it on port side. If you do not make this deviation, the chart shows you running into a 3-ft shoal.

"But the red and green buoys seemed out of place, they said, and the shoal wasn’t where their 2016-17 navigational charts said it should be."

Going up this channel on slightly the wrong bearing it might appear that QFl R #4 bore to your port and Buoy No. 3 (if you could see it) to your starboard. You have to make that dog-leg around Buoy 3 to line up properly to go in.

http://www.charts.noaa.gov/OnLineViewer/11412.shtml

I sailed SW FL for 11 years. The channels and passes between the GOM and the ICW were the most treacherous features of the area.

 

[Ron20324]

The February issue of Fishtalk magazine (fishtalkmag.com) tells us there is a project underway in Florida. Navionics is partnering to remap Florida waterways to show how conditions are since Hurricane Irma. See Navionics.com/remapsouthflorida. Here's your chance to make a real difference in the world, and there are chart bonuses for those who participate.

 

[Kings Gambit]

The February issue of Fishtalk magazine (fishtalkmag.com) tells us there is a project underway in Florida. Navionics is partnering to remap Florida waterways to show how conditions are since Hurricane Irma. See Navionics.com/remapsouthflorida. Here's your chance to make a real difference in the world, and there are chart bonuses for those who participate.

I don't live there anymore.

 

[Gunni]

Thanks for that chart link KG, brings everything into perspective. Wonder what they were going to do with that bascule bridge IF they had made the inlet?

Totally agree with the treachery of this coast. I was coming south on that area one cold winter night, singlehanding, got caught by the fog as the night closed in and found myself sailing in utter pea soup. Nearly ran into the day marker at Long Boat. Other boats traveling with me wisely decided to stay out and sail on, tired and cold I decided to make an attempt on the inlet with no local knowledge just to be off the water. There was no seeing anything and Long Boat is not lit. I zoomed my handheld GPS and lined up on the middle of the channel. Waves were breaking unseen on either side. I could barely see the bow of the boat. A light breeze pushed me on a run head first into the inlet. Picking up my paper chart I checked the bridge. I needed 12 feet and didn’t have it. The center span light came into view. With no time to consider options I swung the rudder hard and veered to port, the boat careened up onto a sandy beach populated by fishermen. They busied themselves reeling in lines and scrambling off the beach, not sure what to make of this boat that had just appeared out of the foggy Gulf. So many things could have gone wrong that night.

Pretty clear what happened to these two. With no local knowledge and poor navigation tools they made a decision to stay out and push past Clearwater. Then it got dark and the mist turned to dense fog. A decision was made to attempt Johns, no local knowledge, no electronic navigation, just a flashlight and paper chart they rushed the channel at Johns. Drove past the lighted R4, didn’t make the port turn to G5 and made a full throttle grounding onto the shoal just past R4. With the keel deeply embedded they sheared off the ballast at the bottom of the keel stub.

 

[Kings Gambit]

Thanks for that chart link KG, brings everything into perspective. Wonder what they were going to do with that bascule bridge IF they had made the inlet?

At the time we left FL the bridges opened on demand across passes between the GOM and the ICW, for the incoming vessels at least. Otherwise, they opened on a "published" schedule. If the tender sees you coming in s/he may open without a hail. In fog or other low visibility situations, however, the vessel would need to be in contact w/ the bridge tender. It's astonishing the skipper did not go in at Clearwater Pass which is much less risky, and potentially having had the option of doing so in daylight w/planning, and then make Mad Beach via the ICW if that was the final destination for that day. Even the most rank beginner, if cautious, would take that choice. Perhaps the guy is just plain____ !

Somehow, I doubt this couple are early risers. Cruising the seacoast of the Pinellas Peninsula in winter one needs to be inside by 1600 at the very latest if attempting a pass, IMHO! Leaving "late" for a destination is a common mistake of newbie cruisers, I've noticed. (You cannot speed up!) It appears to be maybe 20 n.mi. from Tarpon Springs to Clearwater Pass; another 13 or so to Johns Pass-- a nearly 3-hr difference on a slow boat. It's daylight by 0630. Should be able to run at least 40 n.mi. in 9-10 hr.

 

[nat55]

They grounded, presumably on sand, and the keel feel off? I'm thinking they're lucky to have had this mishap close to help, before something failed somewhere more life threatening.

This picture appears on their Go-Fund me page. I don't spend much time sailing in FLA but if they made a regular practice of grounding like this, am I wrong in thinking that perhaps the keel had been compromised? It looks settled in this pic....but it doesn't take much wave action to get those keel bolts moving...

 

[thinwater]

This sort of story isn't that rare. The shear arrogance of thinking they had any business taking on what they did. No apprenticeship in small boats. No financial safety net (no, I didn't like the rat race either, but that is the reality of personal and social responsibility). Had they been farther offshore they would have placed responders at risk. It's more like drunk driving than and accident.

They're in a tough spot, but I'm not going to feel sorry for them. It is quite possible that this will be the finest learning experience of their lives. Knuckle down, get it done. Get jobs, pay to have the boat removed, and move forward. Maybe try again in 10 years. But not until you have a nest egg and know how to sail and maintain a boat as well as you know how to walk.

 

[Gunni]

They more than cleared their go fund me goal of $10k...

 

[H3newdog]

nat55 brings up an important point, I can't (would never think) of bringing my 6' draft up to the beach like a motorboat. Am I wrong or alone in this thinking? I don't know what their boat draws but the keel has to be in the sand even if there is a significant drop off. So many of my non boating friends think that going out on the water is no different than jumping in the car for a trip to the store. Not to mention parking anywhere.

 

[Kings Gambit]

A retractable keel can allow a sailboat into less than 3 ft of water.

 

[Rick Webb]

They more than cleared their go fund me goal of $10k...

Maybe they will take that money and do something more in line with their talents. Like film a documentary while living with Grizzly Bears.

 

[nat55]

A retractable keel can allow a sailboat into less than 3 ft of water.

Certainly not the case with a Columbia 28....looks like there were three different keel configurations for this boat. The one in the drawing below was the latest...

 

[Kings Gambit]

Certainly not the case with a Columbia 28....looks like there were three different keel configurations for this boat. The one in the drawing below was the latest...

OK--the draft according to SailboatData.com is 4.3 ft.

 

[jssailem]

OK--the draft according to SailboatData.com is 4.3 ft.

Works poorly in water that is 3 feet.
KG. That link to the waters was interesting. Chart 11411 is even more informative. That is a narrow channel. I would be cautious even in the daylight. Wonder if they knew to stay Red Right Returning?