12/30 Heard a seacraft went down on the 50 line last night

CaptKen · 12-31-2005, 01:58 PM

Any details? everyone alright ? possible causes ? any lessons to be learned ?
Ken

reel life · 12-31-2005, 02:09 PM

kenny don`t think it was a seacraft . details and pics to follow

FINICKY · 12-31-2005, 03:33 PM

WE WERE THE 3RD BOAT TO ARRIVE , THE BOAT WAS ALREADY UPSIDE DOWN WITH THE BOW FULL OF AIR AND KEEPING IT AFLOAT. TWO MEN WERE PICKED UP BY ANOTHER BOAT. THEY SHUT OFF THE ENGINE WHILE FISHING AND THE ELECTRONICS KILLED THE BATTERIES. NO JUICE NO RADIO NO BILGE PUMP, OPEN TRANSOM, WATER SPLASHING IN AND THEY SAID THE BOAT WAS TURTLE IN LESS THAN 5 MINUTES. VERY HEAVY SMELL OF FUEL IN WATER. SEATOW WAS THERE TO TOW THE BOAT IN, GLAD THEY WERE BOTH SAFE, BUT WHAT AN EYE OPENER.
IS YOUR BOAT SAFE AND ARE YOU READY TO GO IN THE WATER.? 12 MILES OFF SHORE!
THEY SHOT 5 FLARES LOOKING FOR HELP. WE SAW OVER 50 PLUS BOATS THERE LAST NIGHT AND ONLY 3 SHOWED UP TO HELP!
ITS A SMALL COMMUNITY OF PEOPLE THAT FISH FOR SWORDS OUT THERE, MAYBE WE SHOULD PAY A LITTLE MORE ATTENTION TO SAFETY, AND ALSO HELP EACH OTHER WHEN YOU CAN.

edk · 12-31-2005, 04:51 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by FINICKY

THEY SHOT 5 FLARES LOOKING FOR HELP. WE SAW OVER 50 PLUS BOATS THERE LAST NIGHT AND ONLY 3 SHOWED UP TO HELP!
ITS A SMALL COMMUNITY OF PEOPLE THAT FISH FOR SWORDS OUT THERE, MAYBE WE SHOULD PAY A LITTLE MORE ATTENTION TO SAFETY, AND ALSO HELP EACH OTHER WHEN YOU CAN.

I counted 6 flares. I had the microphone in my hand ready to call the CG when Second Chance got on the radio. We were ~ 2 miles away and were ready to pull in our lines and lend assistance if needed. Just because only 3 boats showed up doesn't mean that others were not willing to help out.

If I was in the water and separated from my boat on a night like last night the last thing I would want is 50 boats running blindly to the boat. Odds are I would get run over.

I heard from someone who was involved in the rescue that it was a 2004 25 SeaCraft and SeaTow were enroute to the scene prior to the capsize as they had already been called because of the dead battery.'

Ed

CAPTINMITCH · 12-31-2005, 06:30 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by FINICKY

ITS A SMALL COMMUNITY OF PEOPLE THAT FISH FOR SWORDS OUT THERE, MAYBE WE SHOULD PAY A LITTLE MORE ATTENTION TO SAFETY, AND ALSO HELP EACH OTHER WHEN YOU CAN.

We were 9 miles north and Second Chance was already on station. I had everyone onboard stay quiet until we heard all passengers were accounted for. We cranked in the spread and had there been anyone missing, we would have been on station in 20 minutes.

Lessons to be learned:

Make sure your vessel is in tip-top shape.
Make sure your safety gear is adequate and handy.
File a float plan.
If all else fails, pray.

JR.ANGLER 1 · 12-31-2005, 06:31 PM

Through what outlet were they taking on water? With the weather conditions, how could there been enough water coming in to allow it to capsize?, given their bilge was not working.

God Bless that they are home safely, and thank you all who helped out!

Nick C · 12-31-2005, 07:16 PM

Like I said several times in my report from last night on the other forum and on here, Class act Second Change and the other boats who helped out!!!! Thank god there were a lot of other boats out there last night!

As Mitch said, we were ready to run down to the 06 if needed. We had our spread in and our ears on.

2ndChance · 01-01-2006, 10:39 AM

I was glad to help out. When I saw the First Flare I though it was a another vessel three to four miles away. When the second flare was seen then it was time to assist. DragonBait was on the radio while myself and GeneralTurtle was in route. Everyone was accounted for on the vessel.
The FISH GODS then gave us a 300lb slob as good karma. 3 hours & 10 minutes fight. We drifted North of the Boca inlet from the 26.00,
GeneralTurtle will post a full report with pictures. NOTHING CAN REPLACE A GREAT CREW IN MOTION. :razz: :razz:

FINICKY · 01-01-2006, 11:04 AM

2nd Chance

Great job helping the seacraft guys out, My hats off to you and you certainly did deserve the 300 lb slob. There was another boat that pulled the guys out of the water, do not know the name but they also should get
credit for helping out.
Good deeds do pay off !!

CaptainEd · 01-01-2006, 01:00 PM

Many Props to you Tony and Ray. You're both good captains. As popular as this sport has gotten I'm suprised it hasn't happened more often. I always looked at a distress call in this way. It's first priority because it could be any of us just as possibly. Congrats on the fish! An offshore rescue and a slob all in the same trip. Now only if it been a boat full of girls from Tootsies needing rescue it would have been a perfect trip :lol:

HNY! Captain Ed

Capt Ted · 01-01-2006, 01:37 PM

Way to go for helping them out.. I would think this will be a rare occurance, as most swordfisherman are hardcore and very profssional out there.. mistakes do happen though.

CT

CaptainEd · 01-01-2006, 01:52 PM

Quote:

as most swordfisherman are hardcore and very profssional out there..

I don't know where you fish but I'm out of PE and Haulover. Maybe you should head out on a calm Saturday night and see if you feel the same way?

While there are a good number of properly trained/prepared nighttime/offshore captains & crew out there, Many are untrained, unprepared and and accident waiting to happen.

tunaman81 · 01-01-2006, 02:58 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by CAPTINMITCH

Lessons to be learned:

Make sure your vessel is in tip-top shape.
Make sure your safety gear is adequate and handy.
File a float plan.
If all else fails, pray.

Very well said. It is so important to make sure that you have both a vessel in great shape and good safety gear because things can go very bad very fast offshore. Thank God there were other boats around and everyone was ok.

2ndchance: Congrats on the 300lb fish...you guys definately deserved it.

RiskTaker · 01-01-2006, 06:20 PM

This situation of the vessel that capsized due to no battery power provides a very good opportunity to talk about two safety devices that actually could have averted that situation. Maybe, maybe not but at least they may have had a fighting chance. I am glad you all were out there to provide immediate assistance. It certainly was a lot better than being found adrift off of Singer Island in the morning.

Extra precautions:

1 - I always make sure to have a 2+ gallon bucket onboard. Besides the practicality of using it to rinse and hold bait and/or tackle, it can be used as a bailer in some situations.

My own vessel is a sailboat so it definetely could be used if water started rising in a bad way. But for some power boats it may not always be a feasible bailer....

2- The other piece of safety equipment is a manual pump that is a permanently installed fixture. This is pretty standard equipment on sailing vessels but I have not seen them installed on power boats. But if it was on the boat that capsized, chances are it could have simply been a dead batteries situation, get a jump start and go home story.

With this calamity fresh in mind, equipping your power vessel with a manual pump is really a good idea, especially for the Offshore swordfishing boats. Let's see: night time drift fishing, engines off and electronics and lights sipping off the battery banks. I can't think of a more practical safety device to have on board in addition to the mandatory minimums.

These pumps are fairly high volume and can pull water from the bottom of the bilge without you needing to open a hatch or inspection plate, probably the last thing you would want to do if you are on-loading water. If your boat is compartmentalized, there should be a manual pump for each section. A friend's former boat which was a 12m Catalac Catamarran had 4 manual pumps, 2 forward and 2 aft on each side of the boat.

On my boat the pump is situated right next to the throttles. This allows a single pilot the ability to operate the vessel and pump the one foot lever at the same time. Because you can actually sail with dead batteries,

, but it is kind-of difficult to bail water from the bilge otherwise. Barring a non-patchable hull breach or knarly seas, a functional manual pump should be able to maintain the vessel in the right attititude without capsizing, providing someone can continuously man the pump, or as needed.

Battery maintenance is perhaps another item for the lessons learned list.

- Practice Preventative Maintentance on your batteries. Replace them before they go bad. (Every two years, maybe three, keep them charged up during their service life.)
- Probably not a bad idea to have two batteries on each bank, deep cycle type.

FYI - If you decide to wire two batteries in parallel on the same bank, you should buy identical batteries as the same time, with the intent being to get batteries with the same voltage characteristics, from the same lot. I was reading this somewhere in a battery maintenance article. I think that the weaker may constantly be discharging the stronger battery or something to that effect.

reel life · 01-02-2006, 06:48 AM

and do not forget we also saved the cooler full of beer

Capt. Ray C
AKA dragon baits

RiskTaker · 01-02-2006, 09:19 AM

Dragon Baits:

And for that noble good deed Captain Ray, you should be awarded the St. Pauli Honorary Badge of Tactful Seamanship and B.E.E.R. awards, for the speedy repsonse AND the cooler rescue at sea. (B.E.E.R. award represents - Boaters Effectively Extracting Rafting - objects)

Capt. Ken - Remember that rogue wave that slapped your boat on the stern? We were fishing in what seemed like benign 2-4 loosely spaced waves. Next thing you know here comes this out of proportion roller (Yeah, they were from the NE), smack into the back of the boat and the boat instantly has a few inches of standing water. Fortunately, the open hole scuppers had no obstructions and they cleared the water out automatically within a couple of minutes.

So a properly sized sea anchor is also not a bad piece of safety gear have in case you need to get the bow of the boat facing into the waves.

LHPfish · 01-02-2006, 11:05 AM

Or just leave one running and you'll never have to worry. Oh yeh, and don't the scuppers fill up with beer cans.

Captn C · 01-02-2006, 01:18 PM

Hey guys,

Did any find out for sure if it was a 25' SeaCraft?

I own the one that's had a lot of bandwith burned on it over on THT.

I know they are easy to sink because of a flaw in workmanship with the live bait well. My boat is waiting for me to repair my livewell....now that I have stopped all the flex in the transom. The problem is the over flow is at or below water line (depends on your load)....if your live well didn't adhear properly and no support was put under the live well. They come loose and leak heavily into your bilge.

Here is a photo of what I am referring to:

Any way congrats to those who got to help and those who were ready to!

Shark Tagger · 01-02-2006, 01:43 PM

Yep it was a 25 seacraft. I believe it was a newer model also... maybe the owners will chime in.

reel life · 01-02-2006, 01:55 PM

we were told it was a pathfinder 24ft. brand new
the owners last name was keller
i`m thinking it was rigged wrong or they forgot the plug.[/quote]

12-31-2005, 01:58 PM	#1 (permalink)
CaptKen Hooked Up Join Date: May 2004 Location: Sunrise/Dania Fla. Occupation: Power Plant Control Room Operator Posts: 838	12/30 Heard a seacraft went down on the 50 line last night Any details? everyone alright ? possible causes ? any lessons to be learned ? Ken __________________ http://home.comcast.net/~CaptKen1

12-31-2005, 03:33 PM	#3 (permalink)
FINICKY Lines In Join Date: Jan 2005 Location: LIGHTHOUSE POINT Boat: 34 YELLOWFIN Best Catch: 348 LB PUMPKIN SWORD Occupation: SALES MGR Posts: 16	SINKING SEARCRAFT WE WERE THE 3RD BOAT TO ARRIVE , THE BOAT WAS ALREADY UPSIDE DOWN WITH THE BOW FULL OF AIR AND KEEPING IT AFLOAT. TWO MEN WERE PICKED UP BY ANOTHER BOAT. THEY SHUT OFF THE ENGINE WHILE FISHING AND THE ELECTRONICS KILLED THE BATTERIES. NO JUICE NO RADIO NO BILGE PUMP, OPEN TRANSOM, WATER SPLASHING IN AND THEY SAID THE BOAT WAS TURTLE IN LESS THAN 5 MINUTES. VERY HEAVY SMELL OF FUEL IN WATER. SEATOW WAS THERE TO TOW THE BOAT IN, GLAD THEY WERE BOTH SAFE, BUT WHAT AN EYE OPENER. IS YOUR BOAT SAFE AND ARE YOU READY TO GO IN THE WATER.? 12 MILES OFF SHORE! THEY SHOT 5 FLARES LOOKING FOR HELP. WE SAW OVER 50 PLUS BOATS THERE LAST NIGHT AND ONLY 3 SHOWED UP TO HELP! ITS A SMALL COMMUNITY OF PEOPLE THAT FISH FOR SWORDS OUT THERE, MAYBE WE SHOULD PAY A LITTLE MORE ATTENTION TO SAFETY, AND ALSO HELP EACH OTHER WHEN YOU CAN.

12-31-2005, 07:16 PM	#7 (permalink)
Nick C Grander Join Date: Sep 2005 Location: 900-1600' of water Boat: 25' Bluewater(Rough C's) Best Catch: est. 120lb Tarpon on 16lb tippet(fight time was 12 min) Occupation: Squid rigger Posts: 2,118	Like I said several times in my report from last night on the other forum and on here, Class act Second Change and the other boats who helped out!!!! Thank god there were a lot of other boats out there last night! As Mitch said, we were ready to run down to the 06 if needed. We had our spread in and our ears on. __________________ "Put your buoys out... we're comin' in HOT!"

01-01-2006, 06:20 PM	#14 (permalink)
RiskTaker Grander Join Date: May 2004 Location: Pompano Beach, Florida, USA Best Catch: Had one once, then it took the boat away Posts: 1,962	a novel Safety device This situation of the vessel that capsized due to no battery power provides a very good opportunity to talk about two safety devices that actually could have averted that situation. Maybe, maybe not but at least they may have had a fighting chance. I am glad you all were out there to provide immediate assistance. It certainly was a lot better than being found adrift off of Singer Island in the morning. Extra precautions: 1 - I always make sure to have a 2+ gallon bucket onboard. Besides the practicality of using it to rinse and hold bait and/or tackle, it can be used as a bailer in some situations. My own vessel is a sailboat so it definetely could be used if water started rising in a bad way. But for some power boats it may not always be a feasible bailer.... 2- The other piece of safety equipment is a manual pump that is a permanently installed fixture. This is pretty standard equipment on sailing vessels but I have not seen them installed on power boats. But if it was on the boat that capsized, chances are it could have simply been a dead batteries situation, get a jump start and go home story. With this calamity fresh in mind, equipping your power vessel with a manual pump is really a good idea, especially for the Offshore swordfishing boats. Let's see: night time drift fishing, engines off and electronics and lights sipping off the battery banks. I can't think of a more practical safety device to have on board in addition to the mandatory minimums. These pumps are fairly high volume and can pull water from the bottom of the bilge without you needing to open a hatch or inspection plate, probably the last thing you would want to do if you are on-loading water. If your boat is compartmentalized, there should be a manual pump for each section. A friend's former boat which was a 12m Catalac Catamarran had 4 manual pumps, 2 forward and 2 aft on each side of the boat. On my boat the pump is situated right next to the throttles. This allows a single pilot the ability to operate the vessel and pump the one foot lever at the same time. Because you can actually sail with dead batteries, , but it is kind-of difficult to bail water from the bilge otherwise. Barring a non-patchable hull breach or knarly seas, a functional manual pump should be able to maintain the vessel in the right attititude without capsizing, providing someone can continuously man the pump, or as needed. Battery maintenance is perhaps another item for the lessons learned list. - Practice Preventative Maintentance on your batteries. Replace them before they go bad. (Every two years, maybe three, keep them charged up during their service life.) - Probably not a bad idea to have two batteries on each bank, deep cycle type. FYI - If you decide to wire two batteries in parallel on the same bank, you should buy identical batteries as the same time, with the intent being to get batteries with the same voltage characteristics, from the same lot. I was reading this somewhere in a battery maintenance article. I think that the weaker may constantly be discharging the stronger battery or something to that effect.

01-02-2006, 09:19 AM	#16 (permalink)
RiskTaker Grander Join Date: May 2004 Location: Pompano Beach, Florida, USA Best Catch: Had one once, then it took the boat away Posts: 1,962	B.E.E.R. award goes to Capt. Ray C Dragon Baits: And for that noble good deed Captain Ray, you should be awarded the St. Pauli Honorary Badge of Tactful Seamanship and B.E.E.R. awards, for the speedy repsonse AND the cooler rescue at sea. (B.E.E.R. award represents - Boaters Effectively Extracting Rafting - objects) Capt. Ken - Remember that rogue wave that slapped your boat on the stern? We were fishing in what seemed like benign 2-4 loosely spaced waves. Next thing you know here comes this out of proportion roller (Yeah, they were from the NE), smack into the back of the boat and the boat instantly has a few inches of standing water. Fortunately, the open hole scuppers had no obstructions and they cleared the water out automatically within a couple of minutes. So a properly sized sea anchor is also not a bad piece of safety gear have in case you need to get the bow of the boat facing into the waves.

12-31-2005, 02:09 PM	#2 (permalink)
reel life Hooked Up Join Date: Apr 2005 Location: Knot sure Boat: REEL LIFE Best Catch: Iron Babe Occupation: Captain Posts: 158	kenny don`t think it was a seacraft . details and pics to follow

12-31-2005, 06:31 PM	#6 (permalink)
JR.ANGLER 1 Lines In Join Date: Sep 2005 Location: 5 6 ACE Boat: Goin' Raptor Posts: 71	Through what outlet were they taking on water? With the weather conditions, how could there been enough water coming in to allow it to capsize?, given their bilge was not working. God Bless that they are home safely, and thank you all who helped out!

01-01-2006, 10:39 AM	#8 (permalink)
2ndChance Lines In Join Date: May 2004 Location: Pembroke Pines Occupation: Realtor & Mortgage Broker Posts: 84	I was glad to help out. When I saw the First Flare I though it was a another vessel three to four miles away. When the second flare was seen then it was time to assist. DragonBait was on the radio while myself and GeneralTurtle was in route. Everyone was accounted for on the vessel. The FISH GODS then gave us a 300lb slob as good karma. 3 hours & 10 minutes fight. We drifted North of the Boca inlet from the 26.00, GeneralTurtle will post a full report with pictures. NOTHING CAN REPLACE A GREAT CREW IN MOTION. :razz: :razz:

01-01-2006, 11:04 AM	#9 (permalink)
FINICKY Lines In Join Date: Jan 2005 Location: LIGHTHOUSE POINT Boat: 34 YELLOWFIN Best Catch: 348 LB PUMPKIN SWORD Occupation: SALES MGR Posts: 16	2nd Chance Great job helping the seacraft guys out, My hats off to you and you certainly did deserve the 300 lb slob. There was another boat that pulled the guys out of the water, do not know the name but they also should get credit for helping out. Good deeds do pay off !!

01-01-2006, 01:00 PM	#10 (permalink)
CaptainEd Hooked Up Join Date: May 2004 Location: Dania beach Occupation: USCG Master Captain Posts: 264	Many Props to you Tony and Ray. You're both good captains. As popular as this sport has gotten I'm suprised it hasn't happened more often. I always looked at a distress call in this way. It's first priority because it could be any of us just as possibly. Congrats on the fish! An offshore rescue and a slob all in the same trip. Now only if it been a boat full of girls from Tootsies needing rescue it would have been a perfect trip :lol: HNY! Captain Ed

01-01-2006, 01:37 PM	#11 (permalink)
Capt Ted Hooked Up Join Date: Aug 2005 Posts: 186	Way to go for helping them out.. I would think this will be a rare occurance, as most swordfisherman are hardcore and very profssional out there.. mistakes do happen though. CT

01-02-2006, 06:48 AM	#15 (permalink)
reel life Hooked Up Join Date: Apr 2005 Location: Knot sure Boat: REEL LIFE Best Catch: Iron Babe Occupation: Captain Posts: 158	and do not forget we also saved the cooler full of beer Capt. Ray C AKA dragon baits

01-02-2006, 11:05 AM	#17 (permalink)
LHPfish Hooked Up Join Date: May 2004 Posts: 185	Or just leave one running and you'll never have to worry. Oh yeh, and don't the scuppers fill up with beer cans.

01-02-2006, 01:18 PM	#18 (permalink)
Captn C Grunt Join Date: Apr 2005 Location: Sargent, TX Boat: Fishing...fishing and more fishing! Posts: 7	Hey guys, Did any find out for sure if it was a 25' SeaCraft? I own the one that's had a lot of bandwith burned on it over on THT. I know they are easy to sink because of a flaw in workmanship with the live bait well. My boat is waiting for me to repair my livewell....now that I have stopped all the flex in the transom. The problem is the over flow is at or below water line (depends on your load)....if your live well didn't adhear properly and no support was put under the live well. They come loose and leak heavily into your bilge. Here is a photo of what I am referring to: Any way congrats to those who got to help and those who were ready to! __________________ Fish fear me and women love me!

01-02-2006, 01:43 PM	#19 (permalink)
Shark Tagger Hooked Up Join Date: Jul 2005 Location: Sunny Isles Best Catch: 475lb Mako Occupation: Engineering Posts: 919	Yep it was a 25 seacraft. I believe it was a newer model also... maybe the owners will chime in.

01-02-2006, 01:55 PM	#20 (permalink)
reel life Hooked Up Join Date: Apr 2005 Location: Knot sure Boat: REEL LIFE Best Catch: Iron Babe Occupation: Captain Posts: 158	we were told it was a pathfinder 24ft. brand new the owners last name was keller i`m thinking it was rigged wrong or they forgot the plug.[/quote]

Currently Active Users Viewing This Thread: 1 (0 members and 1 guests)

Thread Tools
Show Printable Version Email this Page
Display Modes
Linear Mode Switch to Hybrid Mode Switch to Threaded Mode