Missing sailor in New Hampshire

[picklefreek]

Sailor missing on Lake Sunapee up here in NH. Lake Sunapee is a 4,090 acre lake (4th biggest in NH). People saw this guy sailing, then his boat was found later with all sails up. Couldn't tell from the fotage what kind of boat it was, but probably something in the 18-20 foot range. Yesterday (Wednesday) was not a great sailing day, but was no hard storms either. Prayers going out to the family.

 

[VT Fitz]

A cautionary tale

We have sailed Sunapee several times in the past few seasons. We love sailing there as it is the best/closest sailing to our home. It's not a huge lake, so you're never too far from shore. There was rain in the area all day, but I wasn't aware of any major storms. I wonder went wrong? A cautionary tale for all.Yes, prayers to the family.If you find out more, please post it.

 

[VT Fitz]

Union Leader update

Here's a link to an update of this story in the Manchester Union Leader today (Fri, 7/20).

 

[Ed]

pfd please

So sad,I can,t tell you how many times I tell people of the benifits of a PFD. You don't need bad weather to have a accident or fall overboard . I recently had my offshore inflatable PFD stolen ,hope the theif makes use of it . The next day we had a 2 hour delay for sailing till I bought a new one . I sailed for 25 years on Winnippisaukee , and can remember 2 times when the PFD gave me comfort . buy one and wear it please Ed

 

[Bob]

Solo = pfd

It just really gets me down when I hear of a solo sailor, especially an experienced elder gentleman such as this who fails to wear a pfd. My prayers are with his family. We bought the auto inflatable pfds at West Marine last year and they are very comfortable. No bulky feeling, no restaints, vey pleasant to wear. Like buckling up when getting into a car anyone who goes out to solo their sailboat MUST wear a pfd. That MUST be the cardinal rule for all of us. When I am sailing with my family, I have the "life sling" hung on the stern pulpit and four throwable cushions in the cockpit at all times. We spent an afternoon early in the season to see how far and accurate we can throw these at a target from the boat. Good exercise for everyone. We sail in a lake so we have no current to worry about. Not to take away for the need for everyone to wear a pfd on the vessel no matter how many onboard, with a crew in light conditions and knowing we are all swimmers, and have the throwable floatation at the ready I will not enforce wearing a pfd unless its a guest who cannot swim. But solo? I myself would feel naked if I did not have one on, especially because of the stories coming to mind such as this lost sailor. Tragic indeed.Be safe folksBob30 Catalina

 

[T37 Phil]

Downhill fast

On Lake Erie we had a small sailboat capsize last weekend in moderate waves. Two sailors were seen trying to right the boat. Fortunately, they were close enough to shore and a marina that responders were on the scene quickly. They ended up going ashore. I didn't hear if they had PFDs or not, but I am assuming from the radio traffic that they did. On the other hand, two swimmers (young men) lost their lives playing in high waves near shore yesterday. Their friends (two women) made it back to shore. A couple of weeks ago another young man was lost off a crowded state park beach where many swimmers were in the water. That park is only a stones throw from where the sailboat capsized. When events go downhill, they can go quickly. My mother lost her brother in a boating accident in the same area when she was a teenager.

 

[Bob]

Missing sailor

Heres a little known fact. 90% of men found drowned from falling overboardare found with their fly open. Never stand out on the rail. If you dont want to go below to use a head or porta potti get a small plasticpot and tie it to the boat so you can toss it overboard to empty it. Dont stand out by the rail without a safety harness on. Its a lot easier to lose your balance than you thinkBob

 

[jimq26]

Where did you see "no pfd" in article?

(NM)

 

[sailortonyb Allied Mis]

small lake, no floating body......

Shouldnt take much to figure out the man didnt wear a pfd.

 

[Peggie Hall HeadMistress]

Bob, that's an urban legend

Yes, a few men have fallen off boats while standing up to pee, but ONLY a few, and they've all been on small open fishing boats alone, almost all on inland lakes or rivers...usually at night, and most have had high alcohol blood levels. However your post does prove that 76.8% of statistics are made up on the spot.

 

[T37 Phil]

Not so, pfd

The article states he was seen wearing a PFD. Material responsible for flotation does NOT last forever, nor is every PFD designed to keep an unconscious person face up. If he was unconscious (or dead from say a massive MI), he could have eventually sunk or more likely still be floating just below the surface. The search wasn't extensive or complete yet. The bottom line is that PFD does not equal guaranteed survival. Let's hope he is out there in the woods somewhere trying to get back.

 

[Tom S]

At that age I wouldn't rule out a heart attack

Like the article says "he was last seen wearing a life jacket" so its interesting that they haven't found him yet.Who knows maybe he ran away to South America and plans on living on a boat with a 20 year old seniorita

 

[Bob]

wearing a pfd

Im an experienced sailor with over 50 years experience. I have done lots of singlehanding. I have never worn a pfd. What I do wear is a safety harnesswith two lines one of them is always fastened. I would also like to point outthat if I went overboard where I sail the water is so cold I dont think I would last 15 minutes at my age.Bob

 

[Bill Roosa]

PFDs are a crutch

The attitude that a PFD will "save me from myself" is just plane dumb. The first and best safety instrument on or off your boat is your brain. There are lots of situations where wearing your PFD will not prevent injury/death. I think the important thing is to asses the situation and take prudent caution. If that means wearing a PFD the so be it. Most of the time it does not.I wear my PFD when conditions or the task dictate. Since I have kids under 12 that is most of the time as I believe it is also the case that you lead by example even when you don't think you are. The kids HAVE to wear them because it is the law so I do too. But as soon as they can demonstrate that they can handle themselves in the water and they reach 13 they can take their PDF off whenever they want.All too often we baby our kids and don't build up their skills and confidence. Or ours for that matter. Land of the free, home of the brave stuff you know.

 

[Marcia]

Peggy, it's not a legend

according to the Coast Guard. When we took their basic boating course recently, they told us that same stat about bodies with flys open. I would think the CG guys wouldn't just make it up.

 

[sailortonyb Allied Mis]

Peggy......I'm not sure of actual statistics

I'm not sure of actual statistics because I'm too lazy to look them up. One time when I was offshore, a crew boat spotted a body floating in the water face down. They reported it to the CG on the radio. It was apparently an adult male. When the CG responded, there was the usual long list of questions. Then after what sounded like the usual standard list of qustions, there was a pause then they asked if his fly was open. They didnt get an answer tho, the Capt made it clear that he wasnt going to take the body aboard.

 

[Ross]

Marcia, It's a long standing joke. Actually the

guys that fall overboard not only forget to zip up they also forget to hold on.

 

[Peggie Hall HeadMistress]

I suspect they fell for the same urban legend y'all did

'Cuz when anything is repeated enough times, it has a way of becoming "fact." Case in point: years ago, when Johnny Carson was host of the Tonight show, he had a well-known advocate for the homeless (his name was Mitch something, he was in the D.C. area, and died not long afterward from a hunger strike). On the show, he stated that there 10 million homeless in the US. The press immediately picked up that number...no one did any research, no one challenged it...from then on, 10 million became the number of homeless. That is, until the 2000 census couldn't turn up more than a few hundred thousand, despite humongous REPEATED efforts on the part of a zillion homeless advocates to find more...till finally they had to admit that they'd prob'ly found at least 90% of 'em. Everyone likes to make a good story better...and the harder anything is to prove or disprove something, the more credibility it's given. Btw, I couldn't find any mention at all to male drowning victims found with fly open on Snopes, despite trying every search word/phrase I could think of....which surprised me, 'cuz it's been repeated so often by so many people for so many years (at least 25 that I know of), that surely Snopes would have heard of it--they seem to have heard about everything else...but apparently not that one. I dunno whether that's evidence that it is fact, or evidence--as I've been told for years--that it IS urban legend.

 

[sailortonyb Allied Mis]

The way I have heard it was....

That 90% of all men found drowned after falling overboard had their fly open. In this case it i thought it was implied that these men were reported missing or something like that and later found dead as they were alone at the time. If we use the actual Coast Guard statistics for boating accidents involving drowning, then the 'fly open' thing doesnt even appear on their list. Their ststistics seem to lump a lot of things together. In the Gulf of Mexico, from listening to the VHF radio, it seems that most of the missing or overdue boaters are usually commercial fisherman. This also includes small boats single handed.So, as it seems Peggy may be correct in the urban legend theory. Although some men are found that way, apparently its not 90% or it would be easy to find the statistics. IMHO Tony B

 

[Old Salt]

Sheesh -- you guys will believe anything

I also love when "percentages" are thrown around like "90% of all men found drowned after falling overboard had their fly open"Are you guys all that gullible !?! Just because some CG plebe said it doesn't mean its true also. True Story - I was at a Boaters class that a 20 Year CG veteran was teaching and he didn't even know why there are so many different configurations for lights on Sailboats. When I explained the second row (with Steaming lights) is there to let you know the sailboat is under power and when you don't see the forward white light he's under sail, he just blew me off. He had NO CLUE. They just hear things and like telling stories, there is not one sliver of evidence other than isolted incidence. Sure I bet it happens, but not at that rate everyone likes to say. . It sounds like a good story though and all you people just "luv to eat it up"I guess PT Barnum was right . Don't be a fool. Please use your mind or you'll just become lemmings on follow the person in front of you off the cliff