55' Hatt sunk 53 miles off of Port St. Joe

[rsmith]

You should have reported that it seemed to be leaking lube oil and diesel...that seems to make them freak out and respond in a hurry.

Even though I'm a 40year Aux member (I my dad and I joined when I was 16) I'm leary about Interactions with them. They have a great TV image but like any gov agency the reality can be quite different. Some years ago We came across 4 bodies floating 15mi off Ft Pierce. A couple hours before one of the gray drug interdiction cutters had pulled alongside and did the "who are you, what are you doing, and where are you going" routine. So I knew there were assets out there. I called FTPierce and was told to remain on scene. It was 2 hours before their Falcon jet flew over and 4 hours before they had boats on scene. Then I got boarded and got the 3rd degree. That took another hour. I came away with a warning for not having a written garbage plan. (which I now have courtesy of Pascal) Makes you think twice about reporting anything unless its a extreme emergency. The bodies turned out to be 4 people who had taken off out of Boca Raton the day before in a single engine Piper Lance headed for the Bahamas. They were searching for them well to the south. You would think someone in search and rescue would have calculated the flow and speed of the gulfstream and adjusted the search area accordingly.
Ever notice a lot of the rescues are some ship or other boater.

[Freeebird]

Hey, all. As an owner of another 55c, this story really hurt to see. But it gets even closer than that, for me -- one of the crew is one of my best friends.

Happened about an hour before dawn, and Chris was snoring away in the fwd cabin when he was awakened with what sounded like a cannon shot. His bunk was probably just a few feet over the site of the impact. By the time he shot up (and probably rung his bell on the bunk right above) and got his feet on the cabin sole, there was already water over that fwd hatch. Nice way to wake up, eh?!

As you can imagine, there wasn't time for damage control or any hope of saving her...he and one other crew or passenger, I think, just grabbed what they could and got up on deck and joined the active crew. And give that whole crew an A+ for prep, because they had all the kind of safety gear you'd want very well-organized in a big ditch bag, AND THEY USED EVERY ELEMENT OF IT -- EPIRB, satphone, port. VHF, flare kits, dye markers, non-perishable food, water, blanket, etc. And of course the quick-inflate 6-pers life raft. That's what Chris really stressed to me...you know that @#$t can happen the water, but how many of us are truly that well set up ALL the time when we get well offshore? I would guess the ones who do it regularly are probably more in the habit, but coming through something like this will make any one of us a better skipper where safety is concerned. He's a very cautious and skilled captain (though in this particular case he was off-duty), and this has ratcheted his level of safety-awareness and prep up another notch or two.

As for the cause, they struck a really large mostly-submerged steel or iron float of some kind. If I heard it right, it's something meant to be like a mooring ball for the oil-service vessels that take care of the rigs. Most of them have short masts on them with a radar reflector, and usually show pretty well on radar. Not sure if this one was missing that all-important piece, but there were two guys at the helm chairs with the radar on and they never saw anything. And they were only going about 9.5 kts. But, it was o-dark-hundred and you sure couldn't trust your eyes then. If the radar missed it, or the crew were fatigued enough just not to notice that little dot getting closer, well...sucks to run at night.

Chris was along because he'd been doing a fair bit of maintenance on her, and the new owner (pretty serious charter fisherman out of Alabama with a lot of time on SF's) wanted his familiarity with the boat for that run from Lauderdale and thought it was money well spent to bring him. The boat wasn't perfect (cosmetic issues, more than anything), but mechanically it was pretty high and tight.

Amazingly, it never sank -- at least while Chris was bobbing alongside in the raft; she just capsized and hung there. Took about 45 mins to turn turtle, too. I would have thought she'd go down pretty quickly, myself.

I'm just glad my friend came though this one a-OK. I try to purge the mental images of him in his tidy-whities with eyes all bugged out (he's sort of a large fellow) in the dark and wet, but still happy he's OK!

Oh well, so much for all the armchair quarterbacking and guilty until proven innocent. I hate this for your friend. Hard to believe that kind of damage could result from such a low speed encounter. As they say, ship happens.

[67hat34c]

Friend from college back in the early 80's told me about hitting one off Jersey Coast with their early 70's Bert 38. Punched hole in bow above waterline and sank the buoy. Boat repaired and was still in use in 85 when I saw it.

[rustybucket]

Hey guys, i know this is a REALLY old thread, but I HAD to share this. Was riding around the shipyard in Pensacola this past weekend and spotted the bridge of this boat and recognized it as a Hatt. Made my way to the back corner of the shipyard and was pretty amazed at what I found. Did a google search and came across this thread so figured I'd update it...

Reel TNT as she sits today, kinda sad, but I highly doubt anybody is going to take on this project. Wonder who owns her now? I'd love to buy a few parts off of her. Anybody know how to get in touch with the owner?

She is in VERY rough shape, several windows busted out, quite a bit of external damage...etc.

[rustybucket]

[jim rosenthal]

Tom Slane's first project boat looked somewhat like this. Mind you, the numbers for completely refitting a Hatteras SF were much better then. Sad to see one in such shape.