Tragedy Strikes.

[CaptRican]

Originally Posted by Ocean Girl

There is a man named Kieth Cooper who will try to locate you, he has a runabout w/225 hp and is ready to help. I gave him your email, just thought I'd post here in case you don't get it. He said he'd be at old Bahama bay in the morning asking for you.
Hope you find her soon.

My type of human! I am impressed!

[CaptRican]

Originally Posted by PortClydeMe

I'm guessing the late lunch was 2:00PM? Internet foray ended at 6:30PM? So maybe 4 hours (max) drifting between the last sighting and subsequent disappearance? Presuming that it pulled anchor, I would imagine 'speed of current' x '1/2 wind speed' x '4 hours' would give an approximate idea of how far to search at that given time.

Personally, I would not be writing blogs about my lost boat, I'd be in a boat searching. The time to locate the drifting boat was then, and pronto! He states that a couple guys took him out looking, but personally, I would have kept looking until found. It could not have drifted too far in 4 hours. Then again, with only $150 disposable cash (maybe $140 after his 'late lunch ashore'), search options decrease.

I read the blog. Seasickness. Cut-away Manta anchor. Canned grapefruits.
Lessons learned, I suppose. I hope this guy recovers his boat. Might help to be more prepared before beginning the next adventure, primarily 'cash-wise', as $300 is not a lot of cash when embarking on ocean adventures.

Low blow! Irrelevant!

[CaptRican]

Originally Posted by garrobito

Oh man! Give a break at the guy here... at least wait until he got or not the boat before swing the ax...
..some people never learned...

Second that!

[Pelagic]

Networking as the OP has done....shows an advanced level of crisis management that some of us old farts can learn from:thumbup:

[CaptRican]

Originally Posted by Jim Cate

IF you recall correctly? Don't think that you do, mate.

The award is determined by an Admiralty court, not the assisting vessel's captain, and it will be assessed with consideration of the difficulty and danger and expense of the salvage. It is seldom anywhere near the value of the distressed vessel.

In this case, as Ann said earlier, it isn't a salvage mission anyway, but a simple transport back to the errant yacht. There has been no mention of any reason he would require a tow anywhere.

I think that your advise to gain the ride back to the boat by deceit is bad, and would likely result in reprisal from an otherwise friendly skipper.

Jim

I agree!
Deceit is never a good thing... Island Fishermen are good people, often humble family men who really are caring people. I know from experience that a any Islander fisherman will do anything he can to help you upon seeing you in trouble.

[four winds]

Just a reminder, Gil said he makes his living online with his laptop. So $150 pocket money and actively making money, sailing to the Bahamas, living life on his terms. Sounds good to me.

Hoping this works out for him soon.

[GoingWalkabout]

Originally Posted by CaptRican

Low blow! Irrelevant!

i agree. I have read his blog and it was clear he had a regular client or more and that he earns his living from doing programing. He has his laptop and hooks onto wifi and he has his job with him wherever. Not the same as setting out the way the other person heartlessly described. His ability to earn money is born out by the fact that while he needs a helping hand now he only wants to accept loans. He is a stand up guy who doesn't need criticism even if it may help someone else in the future. I pray he gets his home and all his worldly belongings back including his ham radio and cameras (he is also a pro photographer). I will be very sad for him if he doesn't.

The not called for poster is like the guy who says to the person standing on the street watching his home go up in flames along with all of his possessions, saying to him, yo know you should've had a fire sprinkler system installed. Your comment was heartless and ill considered.

[Tingum]

Since we have not heard from him I hope he is off searching for his boat!
This is a case where AIS would have made a world of difference!

[Pelagic]

Very good point about AIS

[CaptRican]

Originally Posted by Pelagic

Very good point about AIS

"AIS stands for Automatic Identification System, the international automated collision-avoidance system. While somewhat complex in all its variants and requirements, the concept is generally simple. Large ships and all commercial passenger vessels are required to have and use a special AIS transceiver that continually broadcasts key information about the ship via special VHF radio channels. This information includes:

Position
Course
Speed
Vessel name, ID, and radio call sign
This information can be received by all other ships within range (up to 46 miles or more) so that navigators can avoid collision." http://sailing.about.com/od/equipmen...r-Sailboat.htm

[Pelagic]

My point is that AIS is primarily an 'identifier' and would help USCG or others to find via an aircraft or ship.

Will now remember NOT to turn it off when ashore.

[Ocean Girl]

So far as I can find out, they did not locate the vessel. Kieth Cooper was out in his Mako searching and just got back in and wrote to say no luck. The sea were pretty rough too. That's all I know so far.
Thanks to all for the support you are giving this sailor.
Cheers and Merry Christmas from Rain Dog

[Ocean Girl]

Palegic, we keep ours on with the awesome anchor watch feature, but now me thinks it will stay on permanently unless on the hard. Thankfully ais is getting cheaper and cheaper, so shoestring sailors will hopefully be able to add it to their safety gear.

[Terra Nova]

If someone has stolen it, the boat could be very far outside the estimated drift circle.

[PortClydeMe]

Originally Posted by Tingum

Since we have not heard from him I hope he is off searching for his boat!
This is a case where AIS would have made a world of difference!

Same here. Time is of the essence. At this point, and hoping that he has a support network ($$$) of friends & family (not just Internet forum contributors), it would probably be wise to hire a light aircraft to do a grid-pattern search.

Hope he makes out OK.