Chuck Gould wrote:
On Sep 1, 7:31 am, Wayne.B wrote:
http://www.connpost.com/localnews/ci_6693076

It's not clear what the moral of this story is other than the need for
a thorough pre-purchase survey and high capacity bilge pumps. The
description of 6 to 7 foot seas is highly unlikely although Stratford
Point is an area with strong currents and tide rips.

The opening line is ridiculous:

BRIDGEPORT - Their boat sinking in stormy 7-foot seas, boating
experience and preparation may have spelled the critical difference
between life and death for a Moodus couple as their vessel sank
Tuesday beneath the waves off Stratford Point.

****

The reporter later claims that between the three people aboard they
had
"combined boating experience of almost 30 years". I know that some
boaters accumulate 10 years' experience in 10 years- but a lot simply
get six months' experience 20 times (probably the majority of 2-3
times a year boat users).

I suspect, from the description of events, that they abandoned a
swamped boat. Normally a bad move. Maybe even only partially swamped-
note that the boat cushions (typically foam filled and buoyant) were
still in place after the boat had been salvaged. Even the bow of the
boat sticking up through the surface is easier to sport from the air
or a rescue vessel than the top of somebody's head.

I'd hate to think that with 6-8 inches of water on the floorboards
these new boat owners panicked "We're sinking!" and jumped overboard.

No battery box, no manual bailing option, no purchase oriented
inspection (that should have, but might not have, detected a loose
hose). Apparently no simple tools. Sounds like they may not have had
any pfd's, either- but lashing the fenders together was an inspired
substitute.

7 foot waves? Maybe, but I'd be reluctant to assign much credibility
to wave height descriptions provided by panicked people who made a lot
of bad decisions. Of course when you're explaining to your buddies why
you abandoned a sinking boat, 7,8, or 9 foot waves sound a lot more
dramatic and "excusable" than losing it in 2-3 footers. A legitimate 3
foot chop can be a significant factor for most trailer boats, real 4-
footers a serious and normally uncomfortable challenge. A 7 foot wave
is tall enough that people standing in the cockpit of a boat lke the
one in the article won't see anything but a wall of water when they
are down in the trough. I'd have to drag out the Beaufort scale, but I
think you'd need hurricane foce winds to experience 7-foot chop.

Any hurricanes in CT last Tuesday?



Well, I don't know what happened there, and as I said previously, I
frequently that area with my small boats, but...

For at least 15 years, I spent my entire summer living in a cottage on
the Connecticut shoreline of Long Island Sound, and there were some days
during those many months when the waves were five feet or higher without
breaking until they neared the shoreline. In hurricanes, of course, we
would occasionally see even larger waves, breaking ones at that.

There are a few scary inlets on the edges of the Sound.