My son told me he watched local news and saw that a 24' sailboat with 4
people aboard from FSU had been knocked down and sunk on Sunday. From
what he said, three of the people swam a couple miles to shore and the
4th clung to the mast top that was above the water and was rescued
later. Now this is his interpretation of something he saw on the news
which was being interpreted by a non-sailor newsman so I probably have
the story wrong. I'll look in the paper tomorrow for something.
When we went out, we noticed only one other boat and it was about 2.0
miles farther out carrying only his jib. Later, when we came in, I
turned to see what this other boat was doing in the strong wind but he
was not in sight anymore. I assumed he had gone into Panacea or
downwind to Ochklocknee. I heard nothing on VHFbut now I wonder if
this was the knocked down boat and if he was knocked down (and sunk) by
the same gust that hit us.
Fortunately, the water is sorta warm enough to swim. My 9 year old
swam when we got back in although it was WAAAAY too cold for me.