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.

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.


I used to run from Milford to Stratford at least once a week in the
summer in my 14' outboard runabouts with 15" transoms.

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?

On Sat, 01 Sep 2007 10:47:07 -0400, HK wrote:

I used to run from Milford to Stratford at least once a week in the
summer in my 14' outboard runabouts with 15" transoms.

No question that it can be done. It's a lot more protected in there
however than going outside of Straford Point in the tide rips.

This particular boat seems to have fallen victim to a ruptured engine
hose if I read the news account correctly. That kind of thing can
sink anyone if you don't catch it quickly and know how to deal with
it.

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.

Wayne.B wrote:
On Sat, 01 Sep 2007 10:47:07 -0400, HK wrote:

I used to run from Milford to Stratford at least once a week in the
summer in my 14' outboard runabouts with 15" transoms.

No question that it can be done. It's a lot more protected in there
however than going outside of Straford Point in the tide rips.

This particular boat seems to have fallen victim to a ruptured engine
hose if I read the news account correctly. That kind of thing can
sink anyone if you don't catch it quickly and know how to deal with
it.

I suppose they didn't know the water was supposed to come in over the
transom and not bubble up from the inside of the transom.

By the way, here's a courageous guy with a boat whose hull looks
suspiciously like mine, braving the rough waters of Lake Lanier to bring
home a fish. Same engine I have, too.

http://tinyurl.com/359kzn


Looks like he has the splashguard installed.

"HK" wrote in message
...
Wayne.B wrote:
On Sat, 01 Sep 2007 10:47:07 -0400, HK wrote:

I used to run from Milford to Stratford at least once a week in the
summer in my 14' outboard runabouts with 15" transoms.

No question that it can be done. It's a lot more protected in there
however than going outside of Straford Point in the tide rips. This
particular boat seems to have fallen victim to a ruptured engine
hose if I read the news account correctly. That kind of thing can
sink anyone if you don't catch it quickly and know how to deal with
it.

I suppose they didn't know the water was supposed to come in over the
transom and not bubble up from the inside of the transom.

By the way, here's a courageous guy with a boat whose hull looks
suspiciously like mine, braving the rough waters of Lake Lanier to bring
home a fish. Same engine I have, too.

http://tinyurl.com/359kzn


Looks like he has the splashguard installed.


If Waylon saw that much blood, he run sceaming.

Don White wrote:
"HK" wrote in message
...
Wayne.B wrote:
On Sat, 01 Sep 2007 10:47:07 -0400, HK wrote:

I used to run from Milford to Stratford at least once a week in the
summer in my 14' outboard runabouts with 15" transoms.
No question that it can be done. It's a lot more protected in there
however than going outside of Straford Point in the tide rips. This
particular boat seems to have fallen victim to a ruptured engine
hose if I read the news account correctly. That kind of thing can
sink anyone if you don't catch it quickly and know how to deal with
it.
I suppose they didn't know the water was supposed to come in over the
transom and not bubble up from the inside of the transom.

By the way, here's a courageous guy with a boat whose hull looks
suspiciously like mine, braving the rough waters of Lake Lanier to bring
home a fish. Same engine I have, too.

http://tinyurl.com/359kzn


Looks like he has the splashguard installed.


If Waylon saw that much blood, he run sceaming.




Whatever do you mean? It's just your typical Lake Lanier largemouth.
Oh...you're not referring to the fish...

On Sat, 01 Sep 2007 08:28:17 -0700, Chuck Gould
wrote:

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.

I have seen 9 footers on Long Island Sound but only in howling
nor'easters with winds approaching gale force. Don't ask me what I
was doing out there but suffice to say, sail boat racers are a little
bit crazy.

I've been in and around Long Island Sound all summer and we have had
no conditions like that with the exception of a few brief squalls
several weeks ago.

On Sat, 01 Sep 2007 08:28:17 -0700, Chuck Gould
wrote:

Any hurricanes in CT last Tuesday?

Oh - a little NW cruiser wave envy perhaps? :)

Not unlikely at all. And as an "experienced" boater, I've seen 6
footers come out of no where in that area - in particular on a SW
wind.

LIS is infamous for large unruly waves in several areas under SW wind
conditions - the reason being, depending on the tide, the entire
Atlantic Ocean is trying to cram itself into a limited area. Opposing
tides and the right winds, you can get into trouble in a hurry. In
particular in that area.

Ask Scot what we were into at Westerly Reef last Thursday and it was
beautiful out - light winds, but tidal movement into Fisher's Island
Sound was building three footers right at the channel entrance. When
we ran outside Fisher's down to Westerly we caught some major air
twice on waves out of no where. Go ahead, ask him. Three footers and
that was nearly calm conditions.

I've been in Narragansett Bay at Newport with 10/15 mph wind from the
North and East Passage building 4/5' just because of opposing wind and
tides.

Maybe you guys out in the NW need to come East and learn how to boat
in real wind and wave action. :)

With respect to the situation, they did exactly what I would have
done, although I might not have abandoned the boat completely. I
wasn't there so I don't know.