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Thread: Old Boats and old Horses out to pasture

  1. #1
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    Default Old Boats and old Horses out to pasture

    This is a sad story. That boat had some history.



    One dead, one critical after 65-foot boat sinks in Delaware Bay off Cape May



    By RICHARD DEGENER



    CAPE MAY — One man is missing and presumed dead and a second is in critical condition

    after the aging wooden party boat they were transporting south sank in the Delaware Bay

    early Thursday morning.



    The U.S. Coast Guard, alerted by the New Jersey State Police and by an emergency satellite

    beacon that sounded at 1:35 a.m., was able to save one man.

    Petty Officer 3rd Class John Opsal, a Coast Guard rescue swimmer from Air Station Atlantic

    City, could not get the second man out of heavy sea, with waves of almost eight feet and

    steady 29-knot winds, seven miles from this resort.



    “It was rough. He made a couple attempts to grab him but couldn’t get a hold of him. He sank

    with some of the debris,” said Coast Guard Petty Officer 3rd Class Jonathan Lindberg.

    Sgt. Steve Jones of the New Jersey State Police identified the missing man as Gregory Arlotta, 62, of Fort Myers, Fla. and the survivor is

    Steve Hopkins, 42, of Washington, D.C. He said Arlotta had just purchased the vessel Sea Wolf in New York.



    The Coast Guard and the State Police are still trying to figure out why the boat sank. All they know is the vessel started taking on water and

    the men got into a life raft, but the sea was rough and Arlotta was unable to stay in the raft.

    “We don’t know how it happened yet. We just know what was there when we got there,” Lindberg said.

    Arlotta had purchased the 65-foot vessel several days earlier and was taking it to New Orleans.

    The Sea Wolf had operated for decades with other party boats from the Sheepshead Bay Piers, and according to one observer, the vessel was in no shape for such a trip this time of year.



    “The month of December has a lot of wind. I’m not surprised she broke up like that. She had a bad problem in her port quarter. She always

    listed that way,” said Steve Cannizzo, who operates a website for fishermen in the area, Cannizzo said the men purchased the boat for less than $20,000. It was appraised for $40,000 but listed for sale on Craigslist for $29,000.

    Cannizzo said long-time owner Eddie Moraski, who is in his 70s and recently broke his hip, had decided to get out of the business after a half-century of taking people fishing.



    Moraski could not be reached for comment. Phones at the pier where Sea Wolf docked went right to an answering machine Thursday. Cannizzo said the men were last seen leaving Sheepshead Bay, which connects to the Raritan Bay, on Wednesday morning. He said they

    were pushing the boat hard and smoke was coming out its stacks before they geared it back, maybe indicating a problem.



    “This boat was not in the best of condition. They were running that boat hard and then they yanked it back like they overheated the engines,”

    Cannizzo said.



    “If only somebody could have taken them aside and said: ‘This is not the right boat to bring on a long trip.’“

    Cannizzo said the men asked a local captain navigational advice before leaving.



    “They packed very light and got on that vessel cold. They really didn’t shake it down too much. A 45- to 50-year-old wood boat starts loosening up. The pumps ran all the time. It’s a sad set of circumstances,” Cannizzo said.



    The boat was recently listed for sale as a 1963 Gilligan, an inshore fishing vessel that fished for porgies and sea bass mostly within 10 miles

    of the dock. The Sea Wolf had twin diesels, one of which Cannizzo said was recently rebuilt. The boat was known for its woodwork and one time was considered one of the best Gilligans in the region. Cannizzo said it just aged, as wooden boats do.

    The Sea Wolf had an emergency position-indicating radio beacon, or EPIRB, which sends off a satellite signal upon hitting the water. It initially came to the Coast Guard district headquarters in Portsmouth, Va. and was relayed to Sector Delaware Bay.

    The sinking was at the mouth of the bay but on the bay side of the line that separates the ocean from the bay, the Coast Guard said. The EPIRB gave the Coast

    Guard and New Jersey State Police, which is also involved in the investigation, the last known position.



    Lindberg said the Coast Guard received no mayday call on the radio but the State Police may have. The State Police first notified the Coast Guard of the sinking and Lindberg said they had a report of a boat taking on water.

    Air Station Atlantic City sent a MH-65 rescue helicopter. Coast Guard stations in Cape May and Indian River Inlet, Del. dispatched 47-foot

    motor life boats.

    Lindberg said they arrived to find a debris field with most of the boat already had gone down. Arlotta and Hopkins were not wearing survival suits, and the water temperature was about 36 degrees. Lindberg said cold water charts indicate maximum survival time without

    suits is four hours.

    “You lose function in two hours. You’re talking four hours tops for survivability,” Lindberg said.

    Petty Officer 1st Class Mike Lutz said Hopkins was pulled aboard one of the 47-footers before being hoisted to the helicopter.

    “He was taken to AtlantiCare Regional Medical Center in Atlantic City in critical condition,” said Lutz.

    Lindbergh said Arlotta was “floating face down and unresponsive” before he sank with some debris.

    Lindberg said the Coast Guard has no plans to retrieve the body or salvage what is left of the vessel. He said the “majority of it” had sunk

    before the Coast Guard arrived. Since the Sea Wolf could pose a threat to navigation, the Coast Guard will put out a warning message to

    mariners to avoid the location. Lindberg said the debris could sink or wash up on shore.

    It remains unclear what Arlotta intended to do with the Sea Wolf but he told captains on Sheepshead Bay he was not going to use it for

    fishing.

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  2. #2
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    hey i saw that boat it was for sale on ebay it sold for next to nothing i think it was 10 grand and now it sunk that sucks

  3. #3
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    Wow. The guy was 62, and came all the way up here to get that boat. It seems he still had a long way to go, but it's a tragedy. You think by the time you get to 62 you would know what you were doing, and checking the water temps and sea waves and whatnot. I am assuming he or the captain he was with did all that, and in the end the age of the boat brought it down. Sorry to hear he didn't make it. RIP.

  4. #4
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    Quote Originally Posted by cowherder View Post
    I am assuming he or the captain he was with did all that, and in the end the age of the boat brought it down. Sorry to hear he didn't make it. RIP.
    I think it's more the fact that it was wood than the age of the boat cowherder. Wood boats are stable platforms and can last for decades if properly cared for. The one thing he had against him was the water temperature. In the beginnning of a season, you have to let the wood swell so it forms a tight seal. Otherwise all wood boats naturally leak. I think what may have happened is the boat was ok when they left the harbor in NY. Then, the frigid temperatures imperceptibly shrunk the wood. At first they may have not have noticed it, and then gradually they did as the bilge pumps began to work overtime. By that point they were in the middle of the Delaware bay. They probably thought they could make it to port somewhere near where they went down. I would never trust a wooden boat in these temperatures, I do not mean to 2nd guess or criticize, because the Capt lost his life. Pointing fingers will not bring him back. However if he did have the experience you are crediting him with, he should have been aware of this possbility.

  5. #5
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    No matter what the circumstances, a complete tragedy. Prayers out to these gentlemen and their families. All the sadder when, as above posters point out, that this was likely an avoidable event. Very sad.

  6. #6
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    So true should have let the boat stay till spring water way to cold and it a sad thing that some one had to lose there life

  7. #7
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    Sent in by Fin, thanks.
    sorry to hear the news....my uncle spent many good times fishing on that boat.




    Hey Guys, Sorry to tell you that one of
    the oldest wooden
    boats round
    here is sinking in it's slip.
    The "Miss Point Pleasant " tied up
    next to the

    Norma K is heading to Davey Jones locker or the
    chain
    saw. Sorry to see
    it, I'll bet there
    are many memories and stories to be told
    there....

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