NJ boat sinks 80 miles offshore

[clamchucker]

From the APP, 8-14. Great job by the Fat Cat in the rescue!

Five people were rescued from a life raft today after their 42-foot boat sank 80 miles off the coast while they were fishing in Hudson Canyon.

The crew of the Made to Sea left Irwin's Marina in Red Bank Tuesday and were fishing on the western end of the canyon at about 1:30 a.m. when the boat began to take on water, according to the U.S. Coast Guard. All five aboard donned life jackets and were able to make it into a life raft before the boat sank.

About 30 minutes later, the crew of the Fat Cat - a charter boat that set out for an
overnight tuna fishing trip on Tuesday - came upon the life raft and saw a distress flair.

"We had received a mayday call and we checked the (Made to Sea's) last position and saw that we were less than five miles away. We picked up our gear and ran out there,'' said Bill Boardman, the Fat Cat's second captain. "We got there and didn't see anything so we headed downwind, toward the direction that a boat would drift. Then we came into a debris field and about a quarter-mile in there was a flare shot off by the guys in the life raft.''

Though the Made to Sea's Electronic Position Indicating Radio Beacon was new, functional and registered, the crew had been unable to manually activate it, said Petty Officer 2nd Class Justin Henry, a crew member of Coast Guard Station Shark River.

"The EPIRB was stuck aboard the boat and was manually deployable,'' Henry said. "They couldn't get to it in time.''

Those aboard were able to grab a hand-held radio and put on the life jackets, two things Henry credited with their survival.

"If it wasn't for their preparation, this rescue wouldn't have gone as well,'' he said.

Compounding the difficulty of locating the life raft was what Boardman described as the "total, inky black'' of the sea during the early morning hours.

"You can't even describe how dark it is out there. There's no lights from the city, the
moon had just set,'' he said. "There's nothing darker than out there.''

The Coast Guard was unable to provide the names aboard the Made to Sea, but Boardman said all five of the men rescued were uninjured, though a "little shaken up.''

After the rescue, the Fat Cat continued contact with the Coast Guard and brought those rescued back to their own home port in Belmar.

"When you hear that distress call, you instantly go into rescue mode. If somebody's in trouble out there, you have to go help, there's not even an option,'' Boardman said. "It was quite an adventure. One I'll never forget.''

[voyager35]

Heard about that on the vhf, good thing the Fat Cat was close by, could have turned out much differently.

[bababooey]

Lot of the credit goes to Billy the mate. Quick thinking and immediate action. Here's his account, came from another site:


So yesterday started as a typical canyon trip. Ice the boat, load all the gear check and recheck and head for the deep blue. We start trolling and put a nice 50-60 lb yellowfin in the box right at sunset. We set up on the drift and we're sliding down the wall and eventually we're going to drift into the deep. Perfect!! Set the lines and almost immediately we hook another fish which ends up being a ~70 lb hammer head. We release him and continue fishing. Then the crazy starts. Radio starts in around 1230 with we're taking on water, bilge pumps can't keep up, engines won't start here's our position. We punch in the numbers and we're less than 5 miles away. We immediately clear the decks and start running. We get to the last position and there's nothing. We start heading downwind and 1/2 mile down we hit the debris field - someone sunk. we keep going and see a faint red light and start heading towards it for another 1/4 mile and a flare blows up less than 100 yards in front of us. From the tower in the red light of the flare i can see the life raft and guys waving their arms. We come down on them and all my captain and AB training kicks in. We're asking all the appropriate questions and find out everyone on the sunken vessel is in the life raft wearing life jackets, no medical conditions no injuries. We pick up the guys and i find out the second captain who called the mayday is a friend of mine and was never happier to hear the Fat Cat was coming to assist. After everyone was on board and calmed down we checked them to make sure no one was shocky and headed for the barn. I've never been in a life raft but from what my buddy said it was the longest 15 minutes of his life, especially after watching the self deploying epirb get tangled up and go down with the ship. These guys were well shaken and wouldn't take their life jackets off until they were on dry land. I've fished offshore since i was a little kid. I learned more last night about safety and fishing offshore than i ever wanted to. You never know whats going to happen out there and last night was a night i'll never forget.

[captnemo]

Though the Made to Sea's Electronic Position Indicating Radio Beacon was new, functional and registered, the crew had been unable to manually activate it, said Petty Officer 2nd Class Justin Henry, a crew member of Coast Guard Station Shark River.

"The EPIRB was stuck aboard the boat and was manually deployable,'' Henry said. "They couldn't get to it in time.''

Those aboard were able to grab a hand-held radio and put on the life jackets, two things Henry credited with their survival.

"If it wasn't for their preparation, this rescue wouldn't have gone as well,'' he said.

Compounding the difficulty of locating the life raft was what Boardman described as the "total, inky black'' of the sea during the early morning hours.

"You can't even describe how dark it is out there. There's no lights from the city, the
moon had just set,'' he said. "There's nothing darker than out there.''

The Coast Guard was unable to provide the names aboard the Made to Sea, but Boardman said all five of the men rescued were uninjured, though a "little shaken up.''

After the rescue, the Fat Cat continued contact with the Coast Guard and brought those rescued back to their own home port in Belmar.

"When you hear that distress call, you instantly go into rescue mode. If somebody's in trouble out there, you have to go help, there's not even an option,'' Boardman said. "It was quite an adventure. One I'll never forget.''

This proves that you can never have too many "fail-safe" systems aboard on a canyon trip. EPIRBS can save your lives, but not if you can't get to it. Sometimes the old fashioned radio and PFDs are your last line of defense. Redundancy is a good thing. In this case, they were most fortunate to have another boat close by. Superb job by the Fat Cat in the rescue.

[BassBuddah]

I was on a canyon trip a few years ago. Captain had a twin diesel setup, one of the engines took a dump, we had to get back to port with one engine, fighting physics and head seas on the way in, took 13 hours. Seems like it happened real quick to these guys, not much of a chance to prepare, especially in the dark. They're damn lucky, good job by the other boat.

[cowherder]

Scary story, props to the other boat.

[voyager35]

Lot of the credit goes to Billy the mate. Quick thinking and immediate action. Here's his account, came from another site:


I've never been in a life raft but from what my buddy said it was the longest 15 minutes of his life, especially after watching the self deploying epirb get tangled up and go down with the ship. These guys were well shaken and wouldn't take their life jackets off until they were on dry land. I've fished offshore since i was a little kid. I learned more last night about safety and fishing offshore than i ever wanted to. You never know whats going to happen out there and last night was a night i'll never forget.

Well said, always have to be prepared form the worst. Even if you are, things don't always go as planned.