On Mon, 06 Aug 2007 11:18:19 -0400, HK wrote:



4 men rescued from Chesapeake Bay
No serious injuries suffered after boat sank off Anne Arundel County coast

By a Baltimore Sun reporter
7:58 AM EDT, August 6, 2007

Rescuers from federal, state and local agencies pulled four men to
safety early today from the Chesapeake Bay after their boat sank in
choppy waters in southern Anne Arundel County, officials said.

Three of the men were in the water for about three hours and another was
rescued about an hour after a 25-foot Bayliner sank off Herrington
Harbor in Deale. All four were treated at a hospital, but none suffered
serious injuries, officials said.

The first call came in to the Maryland Department of Natural Resources
Police about 10:30 p.m., and crews from that agency and the U.S. Coast
Guard stationed in Annapolis responded. Fire boats from a volunteer
station in Anne Arundel County also headed out.

Petty Officer Joshua Rihm with the U.S. Coast Guard said this morning
that crews had difficulty finding the boat. "It went down pretty quick,"
he said, when its propellers got caught in fishing lines that "pulled
the boat down." He said it was raining and waves were one to two feet.

After about 90 minutes, Rihm said a Coast Guard vessel fired off a flare
to light up the area. "We then heard a voice," Rihm said. "We heard one
guy who stayed next to the boat yelling." He said Anne Arundel County
firefighters rescued that man.

More than an hour later, other crews rescued the three other men who
were in the water, and wearing life jackets.

The name of the boat and identities of the victims were not immediately
available this morning.


**********


No, *I* won't say it.

I'll bet they got caught in one of the three fish traps just to the north
of Deale. These damn things are about 150 yards long, and held up with
poles which protrude from the water about 6 feet. They are supposed to be
lit, but I've never been able to see a light working on any of them. In fog
or at night, they're invisible.

Hopefully this will get some attention placed on the damn things.
--
John H

On Mon, 06 Aug 2007 19:25:21 -0500, John H.
wrote:

Hopefully this will get some attention placed on the damn things.

I ran over a fish trip once - the damn barrels were under water and
you couldn't see them.

I made sure my prop was free though.

Heh, heh, heh...

On Mon, 06 Aug 2007 19:25:21 -0500, John H.
wrote:

I'll bet they got caught in one of the three fish traps just to the north
of Deale. These damn things are about 150 yards long, and held up with
poles which protrude from the water about 6 feet. They are supposed to be
lit, but I've never been able to see a light working on any of them. In fog
or at night, they're invisible.

Hopefully this will get some attention placed on the damn things.

I don't know what the rules are on these things, but last year on the
Tampa fishing bridge one doofus had about 10 untended crabtraps tied
off on the railings. You couldn't fish there unless you risked
getting snagged on his lines. He was taking up 40 yards of the pier.
There were plenty of other places to fish, but it ticked me off to
park and unload my gear then find his traps there, have to reload and
move on.
There oughta be a law!

--Vic

I'll bet they got caught in one of the three fish traps just to the north
of Deale.

Probably. But then these have been there for quite a while and are well
known.

Last night's weather was miserable on the Chesapeake. I was making a mad
dash back from Dobbins to Annapolis when the USCG put out a Securite warning
of sudden heavy thunderstorms coming into the Bay not far from that
incident. I had my VHF on to hear the warning but had already seen it on
satellite weather. The suprise was it turning more northward after having
had a mostly easterly path. Go figure, summer weather. We made it back to
port just 3 minutes too late and got rather soaked. But as the last line
was tied the winds REALLY picked up. So better wet than tossed around
trying to dock (or anchor out).

The pitiful thing is a slip neighbor picked THAT day to make his first trip
out this season in his 30' Baba. Haven't heard from him yet. But I spent
the day getting props pulled and discovering the utterly ****ty job the
dealer did putting paint on the boat this past Spring. Jackasses at
Riverside didn't even get THAT right.

Coast Guard rescues local musician, friends

Clutching a pole to keep his head above water for more than an hour last
night, local musician Orlando Phillips kept thinking the worst.

He could no longer hear the voices of his brother and two friends, who had
also gone overboard when his 25-foot Regal powerboat sank near Herrington
Harbour North about 10:30 p.m. The pole and the life vest he was wearing
were enough to keep him safe, he thought, but he figured his friends had
nothing to hang onto. Luckily, the three men also had life jackets - and a
good grip on each other as they drifted more than a mile away from Mr.
Phillips.

The Coast Guard found the three of them huddled together just after 1 a.m.,
more than two hours after they had plunged into the bay. Mr. Phillips, 51,
who was found by searchers at 11:30 p.m., was overjoyed.

"I was convinced they were gone," he said. "I went from devastation to
complete joy when they told me they were OK."

Mr. Phillips, of Annapolis, had just wrapped up his usual Sunday evening
Caribbean-themed show at the Calypso Bay Restaurant and Dock Bar, at 410
Deale Road in Tracys Landing, when he jumped on his boat with his brother,
Annapolis musician Gregory Phillips - of the Greg Phillips Trio - and
friends Francois Koryak of Glen Burnie and Pantalakis Panayi of Annapolis to
take an evening ride.

Mr. Koryak, 39, wanted to operate the boat, Mr. Phillips said. So after they
got into the open water, he let his friend take the wheel.

Minutes after that, the boat's propeller got caught in a commercial fishing
net, said Sgt. Ken Turner, a spokesman for Maryland Natural Resources
Police.

"I had to look for a knife and it took a few minutes to find one," Mr.
Phillips said. "After I found it, I started cutting the fish net away. But
it was stuck, and the water was so rough that eventually the boat took on
water and began to sink."

A couple of men started removing water with buckets, while another got on
the phone and called for help.

"We were bucketing the water out of the boat, trying to prolong the
sinking," Mr. Phillips said. "We continued to do that until it just went
under."

The boat and the band equipment in the bow sank.

After he went overboard, Mr. Phillips found a nearby pole and latched onto
it for his life. He said he called out to his friends and the group yelled
back and forth - until suddenly things got quiet.

"They answered for two to three minutes and then I didn't hear them
anymore," he said. "I was just hanging onto this pole and I was convinced
they were gone.

"I felt like if I didn't have this pole I wouldn't make it. So I figured
they wouldn't make it. It was total misery."

County fire officials, Natural Resources Police, the Coast Guard, Maryland
State Police and emergency crews from Calvert County searched the water for
an hour before finding Mr. Phillips, according to Sgt. Turner.

After being plucked from the water, all Mr. Phillips could do was answer
questions and wait.

After an hour and a half of devastating thoughts, he was given the good
news - his brother and two friends had been found, and everyone was fine.

"Just cuts and bruises - we all just had cuts and bruises," he said. "We
were all just exhausted too, but really relieved that they got us."

Mr. Phillips said his friends weren't too worried about him because he had
the pole to hang onto.

"But I was worried about them," he said. "The whole thing was terrifying."

Mr. Koryak was cited for failure to have a proper lookout, Sgt. Turner said.

On Tue, 7 Aug 2007 07:13:17 -0400, "Bill Kearney"
wkearney-99@hot-mail-com wrote:


Mr. Koryak was cited for failure to have a proper lookout, Sgt. Turner said.

That's interesting.

Around here, you couldn't see the bouys on a fishing net at night -
they aren't lighted.

I wonder why they didn't cite the commercial fisher for deploying an
unsafe net in a waterway.

On Aug 7, 7:20 am, Short Wave Sportfishing wrote:
On Tue, 7 Aug 2007 07:13:17 -0400, "Bill Kearney"

wkearney-99@hot-mail-com wrote:

Mr. Koryak was cited for failure to have a proper lookout, Sgt. Turner said.

That's interesting.

Around here, you couldn't see the bouys on a fishing net at night -
they aren't lighted.

I wonder why they didn't cite the commercial fisher for deploying an
unsafe net in a waterway.

When the guys are fishing for shad or bunker in the CT river, they are
supposed to have a light at each end of the net. Stll tough from a low
boat to tell if it is a net light, or a stern light of a vessel moving
away.

On Tue, 07 Aug 2007 11:24:58 -0000, wrote:

On Aug 7, 7:20 am, Short Wave Sportfishing wrote:
On Tue, 7 Aug 2007 07:13:17 -0400, "Bill Kearney"

wkearney-99@hot-mail-com wrote:

Mr. Koryak was cited for failure to have a proper lookout, Sgt. Turner said.

That's interesting.

Around here, you couldn't see the bouys on a fishing net at night -
they aren't lighted.

I wonder why they didn't cite the commercial fisher for deploying an
unsafe net in a waterway.

When the guys are fishing for shad or bunker in the CT river, they are
supposed to have a light at each end of the net. Stll tough from a low
boat to tell if it is a net light, or a stern light of a vessel moving
away.

These things are about 150 yards long, designed to guide the fish to a trap
at the end. They do have lights on the ends, the yellow flashers that are
use for road construction, powered by a six volt battery in the compartment
right below the light. The lights are there, but I've never seen them
working.

I wish the CG would do something about them, but apparently they didn't.
--
John H

On Tue, 7 Aug 2007 07:13:17 -0400, "Bill Kearney"
wkearney-99@hot-mail-com wrote:

Coast Guard rescues local musician, friends

Clutching a pole to keep his head above water for more than an hour last
night, local musician Orlando Phillips kept thinking the worst.

He could no longer hear the voices of his brother and two friends, who had
also gone overboard when his 25-foot Regal powerboat sank near Herrington
Harbour North about 10:30 p.m. The pole and the life vest he was wearing
were enough to keep him safe, he thought, but he figured his friends had
nothing to hang onto. Luckily, the three men also had life jackets - and a
good grip on each other as they drifted more than a mile away from Mr.
Phillips.

The Coast Guard found the three of them huddled together just after 1 a.m.,
more than two hours after they had plunged into the bay. Mr. Phillips, 51,
who was found by searchers at 11:30 p.m., was overjoyed.

"I was convinced they were gone," he said. "I went from devastation to
complete joy when they told me they were OK."

Mr. Phillips, of Annapolis, had just wrapped up his usual Sunday evening
Caribbean-themed show at the Calypso Bay Restaurant and Dock Bar, at 410
Deale Road in Tracys Landing, when he jumped on his boat with his brother,
Annapolis musician Gregory Phillips - of the Greg Phillips Trio - and
friends Francois Koryak of Glen Burnie and Pantalakis Panayi of Annapolis to
take an evening ride.

Mr. Koryak, 39, wanted to operate the boat, Mr. Phillips said. So after they
got into the open water, he let his friend take the wheel.

Minutes after that, the boat's propeller got caught in a commercial fishing
net, said Sgt. Ken Turner, a spokesman for Maryland Natural Resources
Police.

"I had to look for a knife and it took a few minutes to find one," Mr.
Phillips said. "After I found it, I started cutting the fish net away. But
it was stuck, and the water was so rough that eventually the boat took on
water and began to sink."

A couple of men started removing water with buckets, while another got on
the phone and called for help.

"We were bucketing the water out of the boat, trying to prolong the
sinking," Mr. Phillips said. "We continued to do that until it just went
under."

The boat and the band equipment in the bow sank.

After he went overboard, Mr. Phillips found a nearby pole and latched onto
it for his life. He said he called out to his friends and the group yelled
back and forth - until suddenly things got quiet.

"They answered for two to three minutes and then I didn't hear them
anymore," he said. "I was just hanging onto this pole and I was convinced
they were gone.

"I felt like if I didn't have this pole I wouldn't make it. So I figured
they wouldn't make it. It was total misery."

County fire officials, Natural Resources Police, the Coast Guard, Maryland
State Police and emergency crews from Calvert County searched the water for
an hour before finding Mr. Phillips, according to Sgt. Turner.

After being plucked from the water, all Mr. Phillips could do was answer
questions and wait.

After an hour and a half of devastating thoughts, he was given the good
news - his brother and two friends had been found, and everyone was fine.

"Just cuts and bruises - we all just had cuts and bruises," he said. "We
were all just exhausted too, but really relieved that they got us."

Mr. Phillips said his friends weren't too worried about him because he had
the pole to hang onto.

"But I was worried about them," he said. "The whole thing was terrifying."

Mr. Koryak was cited for failure to have a proper lookout, Sgt. Turner said.

Thanks for the post. That verifies the nets causing the problem. Hell, a
lookout wouldn't be able to spot the damn things if it was raining. I've
never seen the flashing lights working. I suppose if they were going only
5mph a lookout could spot the poles in time.
--
John H

On Tue, 7 Aug 2007 07:13:17 -0400, "Bill Kearney"
wkearney-99@hot-mail-com wrote:

Mr. Koryak was cited for failure to have a proper lookout, Sgt. Turner said.

I'd certainly fight that one tooth and nail. On the other hand joy
riding at night is inherently dangerous, even with radar.

There is a *lot* of loose fishing gear floating around out there, some
of it large floating polypropylene line big enough to disable even a
mega yacht. Two years ago a 110 foot Broward got snagged off the
South Carolina cost while we were out that way.