Divers lose boat, no pilot left aboard - Florida

[Khrissi]

Pretty bad- thank god fr Coastguard and more thanks for the fact they did not get delayed on a Real Unforseen emergency ! ( as opposed to this foreseeable one ...... ) k

 

[The Chairman]

This happens from time to time. I have left my boat on the surface while I went diving. I saw no need to bring it with me and I always checked the anchor or mooring as I started my dive. My knots always held and I never had to go looking for it. With more people on the boat, that wouldn't be an issue as we could always round robin dive.

 

[DanBMW]

Three major mistakes were made. Aside from leaving someone on board, there were two other things that need to be remembered or know. 1. No one really knew that they were off shore diving, where or when they were supposed to return. 2. The scope to set an anchor in 80 feet of water is at least 5-1 (400 feet minimum). Their anchor was closer to 1-2 at best.

In reference to one diver swimming to the boat, if they had stayed together, because of the above, all probably would have died. No one knew they were out there and in several hours it would have been dark. It probably would have been a Coast Guard recovery instead of a rescue. Swimming to the boat was probably the best of a bad situation. Not always recommended, but in this situation, it worked.

 

[Neilwood]

There are so many poor decisions that they made:
1) They knew conditions were going to deteriorate but made no concession to it. If you know a storm is coming, realise that the weather doesn't work to a timetable, storms can arrive early and plan accordingly.
2) Leaving a boat off shore with no one minding it is asking for trouble.
3) If you insist on doing 2 take the PLB with you. It serves no purpose on the boat when you are potentially miles away from it.
4) Splitting the group was a very risky move. Luckily the swimmer made it to the boat. If she hadn't due to being overwhelmed or simply becoming too tired, there would have been three fatalities.
5) Reading the report it seems like none of the divers had DSMBs so were reliant on the coastguard finding them with infrared.

Lucky escape for them all

 

[kelemvor]

Sounds like there needs to be some kind of law banning unattended boats or some such. People won't stop doing it if they aren't forced to. Sure, THIS group of people probably won't do it again for a while. Most will continue the practice.

I wonder how much it cost for a helicopter or two, plane, and possibly other USCG vehicles to search for these buffoons.

 

[mmerriman]

Sounds like there needs to be some kind of law banning unattended boats or some such. People won't stop doing it if they aren't forced to. Sure, THIS group of people probably won't do it again for a while. Most will continue the practice.

I wonder how much it cost for a helicopter or two, plane, and possibly other USCG vehicles to search for these buffoons.

if you get lost in the mountains in NH and a search is mounted, you're responsible for the costs....

 

[The Chairman]

Sounds like there needs to be some kind of law banning unattended boats or some such.

Oh, please no. Have you been to a marina lately? There are plenty of unattended boats in many marinas. Many professional divers work alone and never have an issue. Just because people do it wrong, doesn't mean that those of us who do it right should be punished. This is probably a more common practice than you might think.

 

[kelemvor]

Oh, please no. Have you been to a marina lately? There are plenty of unattended boats in many marinas. Many professional divers work alone and never have an issue. Just because people do it wrong, doesn't mean that those of us who do it right should be punished. This is probably a more common practice than you might think.

Such a law would have to account for those situations. Perhaps a paragraph or two instead of a sentence on the subject should be on the books. Seems obvious to me that a boat parked at a marina wouldn't need to be attended. A boat out in the ocean with swimmers/divers/other people in the water is a different story. Just as I can leave my car in a parking lot unattended. The authorities would take a dim view if I stopped on the I95 and got out to go hunting for an hour. Boats who anchor a boat just outside of a marina and use a dingy to travel to/from land would be questionable at best.

 

[tursiops]

This happens from time to time. I have left my boat on the surface while I went diving. I saw no need to bring it with me and I always checked the anchor or mooring as I started my dive. My knots always held and I never had to go looking for it. With more people on the boat, that wouldn't be an issue as we could always round robin dive.

Classic error in logic. It has never happened to me so it never will. How many times have we heard this with so many unfortunate results?

 

[DandyDon]

I always checked the anchor or mooring as I started my dive.

As they did, and it failed. Do you carry a PLB when you leave the boat empty, or is that too fancy for an old school diver?

I wonder how much it cost for a helicopter or two, plane, and possibly other USCG vehicles to search for these buffoons.

Not cheap.

if you get lost in the mountains in NH and a search is mounted, you're responsible for the costs..

For stupid divers like these, they should be charged.