Sportsfisherman accident-Jupiter Florida

Take a look at these spectacular pictures as the experienced skipper of a sportsfisherman broaches and pays the ultimate penalty-all caught on camera: http://thetriton.com/gallery/v/bosuns-locker/jupiter/#tophere

click on the first image then use "next".....

 

Thats very unfortunate .... did he hit something to cause this ?

We have an arabic saying that goes:

Some things do not forgive even the most experienced of individuals, driving, swimming and operating vessels boats, planes etc....
Many great swimmers died while swimming and many drivers died at the seat of their cars ....

 

From Doug's link:

. . head down on deck . .

Sad..!!

Regards,
Angel

 

No sure what that is ... "Violent broach" looks like it hit a low pressure wave that was moving in another direction or something .....

 

Ah.., you meant the boat. I first thought you referred to the victim. I could have known, previous posts have shown you're a well reader..!!

Regards,
Angel

 

I wasnt clear in my post, my bad

And thx !

 

In this case, yes! The boat is a ‘‘she’’ not an ‘‘he’’

Also not an ‘‘it’’..!! Altough Lloyd's Register thinks differently nowadays . . .

Regards,
Angel

 

LOL what i meant was did he "the pilot" hit something when we was operating the boat that caused the boat to act as it did ? .....

 

Having looked at all the photos in sequence this appears to be a classic broaching situation. The question is, why? He was riding the back of the wave just like you are supposed to do. I suspected he actually over ran the wave which dumped him into the trough and suddenly reduced his speed as the bow dug in. Then the wave caught up and shoved the stern around to port and violently heeling the boat to port. Speculation though without video.

Coming in an inlet is always fraught with danger, but with his experience he should have know to stay at the same speed as the waves.

I have never crossed a bar in a small boat. I have several times crossed the Columbia bar on a ship and been through some inlets on the Atlantic coast. We got caught by a sneaker wave on one Columbia crossing and it heeled us 47 degrees (we had a recorder), but fortunately it's pretty hard to roll one of those old 327 foot CG cutters. But it was a lot like that cruise ship video going around the internet.

 

An interesting fact here is there is a real danger to having an open flybridge. Never would have thought this would happen.

 

Stunning macabre photos of What can happen crossing the bar...

http://thetriton.com/gallery/v/bosuns-locker/jupiter/?g2_page=2

Though I realize they had been posted above originally by Doug Lord and others...I just ran across these pictures concerning this sad but educational story last night for the first time ...though this event occurred in Sept. of 2010.

The photos are stunning and macabre...the lessons that they illustrate even more poignant I hope...

Shoals/sand bars in inlets can shift around after a hurricane/storms have gone by which was the case here and same thing can occur in the Gulf of Mex or anywhere as we know...though I hope I would never attempt to force through and over a wave like this...especially in the middle part of an inlet.. we all get dubious and dumb ideas in our noggin at times...

One could become broached/discombobulated in an inlet in several ways ...so this story and it's accompanying pictures by professional photographer Stuart Browning are educational and highly useful reminder I think to all of us...to respect the sea always ...and take her lightly at our own risk...and then perhaps something good has come of this tragedy...

 

After Captain guided vessel through and over the wave... the bow fell down into the wave's trough...wave crest behind him somewhat now and pushing up the stern a bit...rudders significantly out of water now I'd guess... bow is possibly plowing into sand at this juncture as he appears to be taking a fairly "frontal" approach through the often much shallower middle area of many inlets in Florida...wave quickly catches up to boat now at a slight but enough to be influential angle they often come in at...boat now broached..next wave is a full broadside and the centrifugal forces are really acting hard on the Captain up there in the upper deck...and were more than enough to launch him from his seat where he is unfortunate enough to land head first on the deck below. Very sad story... but effectively " illustrative" of the type of caution we should endeavor to use at all times ....and especially on those sunny days in summer....

 

25 or 30?

 

What strikes me is that the captain was either so bold or so ignorant that he did not deem it necessary to wear a safety harness when negotiating a known treacherous inlet, with a small craft , in heavy following seas.. On sailing yachts we wear harnesses many times.

The lesson is that the driver is dead .... I would have been dead long ago without a safety harness.

 

On powerboats, we just use high bulwarks/railing, Michael. I have tied up when having to go aloft in hurricane force winds but it is just not something that is common. I have never seen a vessel like that in that amount of heel and water like that is common on the west coast. As a driver, one just has to pay attention.