On Mon, 31 Aug 2009 11:09:48 -0400, Tom Francis - SWSports
wrote:

On Sun, 30 Aug 2009 21:10:20 -0500, Vic Smith
wrote:

On Sun, 30 Aug 2009 15:36:34 -0400, Wayne.B
wrote:

On Sun, 30 Aug 2009 13:55:38 -0500, Vic Smith

Those 3 guys sitting on an upturned hull in the Gulf for a week does
NOT inspire in me much confidence in the CG.
Best not count on them, which is why personal preparation is so
important.
Not taking anything away from the CG, of course.
They can't be perfect.

That's not true at all - I don't know where you found that, but most
of it's bull****.

The quote with link I posted certainly was, as others have pointed
out, but there's no question that the CG isn't perfect.
That was my point in the beginning.
I've seen air photos of the eventual rescue now, and the white hull
stood out well in the flat blue sea.
I think the search pattern was wrong, or not enough resources were put
on this one.
Would have been a shame if that hull got to Clearwater Beach with
3 dried up bodies stuck to it.
Despite the lack of comm/signal gear in the boat, the CG got an early
start and last known position report of the boat.
I expect the CG is kicking itself in the ass, and working to find what
could have worked better.
There will be some fallout about missing these guys.

These guys took a chance without having proper equipment or signaling
devices that they could get to quickly in case of emergency. It's not
the Coasties fault that these guys were morons.

Agree. I like to look for gotchas, sometimes to the point of being
accused of being anal, but hey, it served me well in my profession.
For those interested in EPIRB/PLB signals, the Lady Mary incident
might be instructive.
http://www.thebassbarn.com/forum/sho....php?p=1952251

That's a forum, and I can't vouch for anything and I haven't dug in
much, but even with EPIRBs/PLBs there are gotchas that should be
analysed - if you're anal about that of course (-:
Seems safety gear is a good target for being anal about.
Did you EPIRB/PLB owners get the notice referred to here?

"July 17, 2009
Boaters urged to check beacon numbers

By WAYNE PARRY
Associated Press
Citing delays in identifying a scallop boat as it sank in the Atlantic
Ocean in March, the federal government is contacting nearly a quarter
of a million boaters, urging them to make sure their emergency
position locators are correctly registered in a rescue database.
The Coast Guard says an incorrectly recorded beacon number from the
Lady Mary delayed notification of rescue personnel as the boat
foundered off Cape May. Six of the seven crew members died.
As a result, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration is
mailing and e-mailing all registered owners of the emergency beacons
across the country.
"I'm glad to see they are doing this; hopefully it will prevent a
similar delay in search and rescue operations in the future," said
Stevenson Weeks, the lawyer for the Lady Mary's owner."

--Vic