I Can't Resist

You've surely seen in recent days the sad story coming out of Clearwater, Florida, about the four young men who went fishing on the Gulf. Three of the four didn't come back.


As the Clearwater area is pretty much my favorite place in the world, this story grabbed my attention a bit more rudely than most of your run of the mill holy cow look what these dummies did stories. The story also led me, as do many of these, to doing a bit of research into what these lads were up against. I learned a bit about the Gulf, and I'll share those nuggets another time. I'm staying on the human side right now.


First,the reporting is somewhat amusing. The stories talked about the boaters taking off from Clearwater Pass. If you haven't been there, it may sound like an anglers' hangout where all these grizzled old men of the sea gather before they head out to test their mettle against Mother Nature, sort of a southern version of the Discovery Channel deal where the crab boats all launch before they venture out into the icy Bering Sea. Clearwater Pass, in reality (as opposed to reality show) is a split in the sand dunes that make up the barrier section of that area, an area loaded up with condos and little grocery stores, and lots more condos. Did I mention the condos? The guys motored out into a relatively much less threatening context.



Next, these unfortunate lads went out over 30 miles from shore in a small 21 foot boat. Twenty one feet of length, by itself, isn't all bad. It's a small 21 footer, not really intended for big water situations. Having spent most of my adult life owning some sort of boat, I can say without reluctance that these guys made one of the dumbest human decisions possible. I looked up the brand of boat and found that it is one of substantial quality, evidenced by the fact that the lone survivor of the four, picture above, is perched on the boat that is still floating. The boat performed as promised, but 30+ miles out into the sea is a really, really, really long way, and 21 feet of boat isn't much for four big guys. The numbers are bad: 1 small boat, 4 big men and 3o-something miles of water.

The reports initially have said that the lads were anchored in heavy seas, with waves of 7 to 15 feet. If you have never been bounced around by 7 to 15 foot waves, it is at its best a dramatic experience. Now, one of the neat things about a boat is that it tends to try to stay on top of the water, even when the water is in an uproar, with the surface lurching vertically like mad. If, on the other hand, the boat is tied to the bottom, well, that's gonna retard its ability to stay up on top, and the boat is going to behave less like a flotation device and more like a mechanical bull.

There's a few more questions that have occurred to me, like why didn't they run when the weather began to threaten, did the engine malfunction, why wasn't there a GPS or safety beacon, but the most nagging of them is why didn't the lad who owned the boat spring for a radio? Cell phones, maybe he thought cell phones would be sufficient.

Four young guys, very fit and strong, successful athletes, got a little cash, you know, pro footballers, guys who probably felt that they were bullet proof.

Bad decisions.