Norfolk Virgina BULLYING

KD3PC · Sep 1, 2011

some good folks in the area (there are a few) have bailed out the captain, no word yet on next steps, however many are rooting for some additional time for him to get things under control similar to the contacts posted above. Before they break her up.

Scott T-Bird · Sep 1, 2011

This may be a case about a guy who wore out his welcome long before he crashed his boat. I have a hard time believing that there would be no compassion for him if he was basically a good guy, or even just a passing stranger.

He lost a great deal, but something tells me that he will turn up again like a bad rash.

Ross · Sep 1, 2011

I don't understand how someone can come to the conclusion that it will be safe to move an engineless boat on the eve of a major storm and take a nap in the middle of the trip. If you are looking for a hurricane hole you don't sail out into the open bay to find it. If you spend 165,000 for a boat or a house you take good care of it. If you can find money for beer you can find money for repairs.
There is too much about this story that sounds like a teenage kid that never grew up. You can live anyway you want as long as you have the means to support your lifestyle. You also have to be prepared to take your licks when things go south.

Bad Obsession · Sep 1, 2011

We do not know this person or what is really going on. All too often when these things play out in the media we get a very biased opinion and we never know all of the facts.

They should give the guy more time to get his boat off of the beach.

This boat and its contents are probably all this guy has. Imagine how distraught you would be if everything you had was taken away.

He has made some bad decisions. He may be an alcoholic. He may have just gotten intoxicated because he was so distraught when his boat landed ashore. He could have also possibly had a relationship ending argument with his girlfriend.

They guy needs some help. First off get his boat off of the beach and re-floated. Next the guy may need some counseling because there are possibly underlying issues.

I hope this guy gets all of his stuff straightened up.

Hind sight is 20/20. We can talk about what he should have done or could have done all day and it doesn't help his issues. All we can do is home he makes better decisions now and gets it all straightened up.

Hermit Scott · Sep 1, 2011

" In 2009, Hampton police arrested him on Buckroe beach for taking a swim, naked and intoxicated, according to a public police account"
He sounds like a cool guy to hang out with.

petersea · Sep 1, 2011

All this talk about refloating the boat is questionable as the U S Coast Guard has all ready said the boat is not seaworthy. And if it is refloated is the boat able to get back out to sea ?? It was bounced over the sea wall according to the article so I wonder if it can get clean water to depart this area or must it bounce over the sea wall to get out ??? Three days does not seam reasonable to remove the boat but it needs to be removed sooner or later maybe 15 to 30 days but one thing is certian the longer it stays there then more damaged it will be and worth less and less with each wave that hits it.

zeehag · Sep 1, 2011

he may not be a cool guy to hang with, but does he really deserve to lose his home for whatever reason?

peptobysmol · Sep 1, 2011

Count me in the Extremely skeptical category.
1. Went out right before the hurricane hit.
2. Coast Guard found very little deisel fuel. The engines were inoperative.
4. Dropped anchor IN the bay leaving a "protected" marina.
3. Stopped sailing because of choppy 3 feet seas (42 Ft boat)
5. Deployed only 1 anchor (at first). Then deployed 2nd after things got "rocking and rolling".
6. He didn't even have $50.00 to bail his can out of the can.

Lets face it. The ONLY things from this story this man did right was to perhaps deploy a stay sail and use the Mayday call 3 times. He went from a secure marina on a river to open water. I can only guess he did this because he didn't want the liability of his perhaps uninsured boat to damage others, but maybe he did it out of the kindness of his heart so as not to inflict damage that he knew would go uncovered.

He deserved a Darwin Award. I'm not happy that anyone would lose there home. I'm also not happy that a surfer would lose his life off Florida during Hurricane Irene, but I'm not going to send my $$ for someone who does stupid things. Does it matter that he can get more time to get his boat off the beach? He has no money for bail how in the world is he gonna get money for a refit? Let alone get the boat back into the water. This to me is just a case for a guy with below average judgement that endangered Coast Guard personel who actually got lucky by not dying. I would even venture a guess that his "girlfriend" left because the $$ for the boat was hers and saw it as a perfect way to disengage from our "hero".

dparilla · Sep 1, 2011

Since when is drunk and naked a crime ;p

Ross · Sep 1, 2011

I decided to have a look at the chart for the Elizabeth River. I can't imagine that anyone in their right mind would leave there and sail into the open bay. http://ocsdata.ncd.noaa.gov/BookletChart/12222_BookletChart_HomeEd.pdf

Rick Webb · Sep 1, 2011

"Since when is drunk and naked a crime ;p "

For some of us it should be.

seadaddler · Sep 1, 2011

Hope

I only hope the girl did not sell her house to buy the boat,things just don't sound very good for getting the boat off that beach and sailing again and none of us want to see them homeless for sure.
Nick

Fly_H23 · Sep 1, 2011

Brina,

I agree with all your points. The media tends to embellish stories like this and then everyone piles on some guy who made a series of poor choices.

Certainly it's not seaworthy as is but maybe repairable. I've seen worse wrecks repaired.

Maine Sail · Sep 1, 2011

#1 DA is being a D-Bag.

#2 Hunter owner made some VERY bad errors in judgment, lack of insurance, not understanding basic math (simple stuff when trying to "outrun" a hurricane moving at twice your potential speed), lack of proper funding to own the boat he owns, very poor seamanship skills etc. etc. etc.

#3 He owns it what ever the outcome.

#4 These resulting outcomes were all his CHOICES, despite being poor ones.....

I'm sorry but I can't feel any more or less bad for him if this was a 2.2 million dollar Hinckley owned by a multi-millionaire or his home owned by someone who can't even afford $50.00 to bail him self out. Bad decisions beget bad outcomes and on the sea you are the captain of your vessel and you OWN your own outcomes rich or poor.

I do disagree with three days to get it off the beach but regardless of time frame he should be responsible for removal...

petersea · Sep 1, 2011

c_witch said:
I have been watching the responses made to this post with interest. Lets get a few things sorted out here.

1) He was NOT arrested for intoxication ( after 2 beers nobody would be; however there are any number of laws to arrest him for)

he was arrested for creating a disturbance at a public storn shelter (noted that he had been drinking) and as far as the "two" beers he was quoted as saying he had " a couple " at dinner maybe maybe not but not the best source to be quoting

2) His past issue of 'Skinny Dipping' is in the past PEOPLE get over it. Personally I think celebrating ones body is ANY thing but terrible.

I don't care about his past but how does "skinney dipping" celebrate ones body ?? You have made it a sudo religious event when in fact it could have been a drunken stuper and had nothing to do with celebrating ones body.

3)CG claims the boat isn't seaworthy DUH they have to go with the strickest interprtation of the law ie broken rudder.

ok so now you have interpeded the coast guards inspection to be meaningless but they saw the boat not you ..I am perplexed how you could determine the boats condition with out a physical viewing and yes a broken rudder would clearly be a factor in determing if a boat was seaworthy.

4) She doesn't appear to the holed and unless the CG person was able to lift her up on her keel to see the side heeled over then I doubt that they know either.

the boat was "bounced over the seawall" would be a pretty good chance of a hole based on that. you would not need to lift the keel to see if you had access it the boats interior

5) I see some people claiming the keel is broken?? Please explain this observation to me, as it appears to still be solidly fastened to the boat and not even bent or bent very very little, at least one of the wings is still on it and looks to be oriented correctly.

6) Who said the engine was and has been inoperative ?? as it sure looked to me as though they were under power and then lost it before being pushed over the breakwater. This might also explain why they have little diesel on board.

the owner/operator said the engine was inoperative .........it was not working when he left in attempt to out run the storm..........read all the links you will see his statement. no need to have fuel when you don't have a working engine

7) Waves washing and beating her now my god she is quite some distance from the water so I doubt she is taking any pounding now other then lookie loo's rumaging about on board.

i saw three picture two with waves breaking over the boat and one on the beach but the boat was below the high tide mark so got to think it is still getting beat up a little, maybe not or maybe you were one of the "lookie loo's" so you have first hand knowledge, if so please let us know

Ok the guy made a really stupid mistake to leave his anchorage (or maybe not). It appears that this cascaded into a near catastrophic event. It sounds like a cash flow issue for him at the moment although I also suspect he is not particularly wealthy.

OH yeah I have seem some refer to him as an alcoholic and I have yet to see that anywhere.

Perhaps some should really try and put themselves in his shoes ( those who are god excepted ) and try and get a grip on what it would be like.

Brina

so if your are going to "sort a few things out" Please be a little bit more factual and use some more reliable info sources

Scott T-Bird · Sep 1, 2011

Brina, I agree with all of your points! Please send money NOW! The poor fellow needs your help!

As for me, my heart doesn't bleed for every story I read. Just because the guy owned a sailboat doesn't lead me to put on a fake air of compassion. I'll bet there are some far more sympathetic stories of boat owners and home owners who lost things that are far more precious during this hurricane.

http://redtape.msnbc.msn.com/_news/...rd-nj-entire-lives-piled-high-on-the-sidewalk

LuzSD · Sep 1, 2011

peptobysmo wrote..........from our "hero"

No one here is calling him a hero, far from it. He obviously did some pretty dumb things but do we gain anything from piling on? You don't need to send money or even attempt any help, but he clearly needs no more quarterbacking.

mark_swart · Sep 1, 2011

Yeah, here's the thing -- the city of Norfolk is plenty messed up from the storm. Parts stilll don't have power. I don't see anyone giving the city 3 days to get everything fixed!!!
They need to give him a reasonable amount of time to figure out how to get the boat out of there. I'm familiar with where he hit, unfortunately it might have to be de-rigged, craned onto a trailer, and taken to a yard. Even if you used a crane to lift it back into the water there, the water is very shallow for a long way out. And of course the fact that it was reportedly taking on water, meaning some structural problems in addition to the location. None of it will be cheap.
Or maybe he'll get lucky and have a Jack Sparrow moment and a bunch of crabs will crawl under it and carry it back to the sea.

JonnyQuest · Sep 1, 2011

Good point Brina, We don't have the facts

While you too may be taking a bashing for supposedly defending him... I get your point that even if these impulse judgements turn out to be correct regarding the Hunter owner, at this point there are very little reliable facts in either of these threads.

I am interested in how things turn out, not impressed with the DA's selective enforcement, understand the media makes money by selling papers etc--not by having their facts straight, have sympathy for the guy, and astonished by what appears to be poor choices that cascaded things out of control fast.

Hey, maybe we'll luck out and find out he's a regular SBO lurker and spills the beans to the rest of us here first!