Another boating "oops" at St Augustine Inlet

[Jaxfishgyd]

Seems we've been averaging 3-5 boating accidents a month lately at the St Augustine Inlet... Most dealing with sailboats that either lose power or who's motor isn't strong enough to handle the job..
Here's the latest


http://www.news4jax.com/news/man-ov...boat/-/475880/19877496/-/11i9pog/-/index.html

 

[Jaxfishgyd]

One of the other :

Sailboat runs aground in St. Augustine inlet
Man and his dog were on board

Published On: Apr 04 2013 04:14:52 AM EDT
Print Email


ST. AUGUSTINE, Fla. -
A man and his dog are safe after his boat ran aground in the St. Augustine inlet early Thursday morning.

Shortly after midnight, Barry Lee's boat ended up on the shore. He said bad weather was to blame.

"This morning the weather started getting bad and I was aiming for St. Augustine to try to duck out of it, it's supposed to get worse tomorrow, get a squall line and a cold front tomorrow or Friday, trying to duck in here to get out of the weather," said Lee.

Lee said his motor didn't have enough power to turn him around.

"I couldn't turn the motor to get enough RPMs to spin it, just started bouncing off the bottom, waves one right after another, knocked me all the way into shore," Lee said.

His dog Maggie jumped off the boat as soon as it hit shore. Lee said she is doing okay.

The boat remained on the shore Thursday morning. It was not known when it would be towed away.

 

[Freeebird]

His dog Maggie jumped off the boat as soon as it hit shore.

Smart dog.

 

[Avenger]

Here, I fixed the link for you:

http://www.news4jax.com/news/man-ov...boat/-/475880/19877496/-/11i9pog/-/index.html

What a cluster#@ck.

First off,... they keep calling it a catamaran. I've never heard a tri-hull called a catamaran. Maybe it's just me.

So, he's trying to bring a sailboat through a rough inlet when the engine failed. Hands up everybody who knows why they call it a sailboat instead of a powerboat. I would think if you're trying to negotiate a difficult area in rough conditions you'd want to use a boat's primary power source, or at least have it ready if needed. They call the engine an auxilliary for a reason. But maybe it's just me.

They never disclose the guy's age, but the kept referring to his "shipmate" being 38. He doesn't look even close to 38. So perhaps he had other things on his mind than safe navigation. I'm not sure if that's too judgmental. It seems a fair observation, but maybe it's just me.

"He was reluctant to talk to us about the incident." I would think most people would be mortified and the last thing they would want is to have it broadcast to the entire world. But maybe that's just me.

Or maybe not.

 

[saltshaker]

Comachee Cove is a nice marina. Lots of high dollar boats. Not the type of place you'd find poorly maintained boats. Maybe the guy had an issue or like Derek pointed out, he was bust tending to other activities and got himself into trouble. A few years ago we had a good sized Sea Ray end up on the beach along the North Shore of LI. Owner said the auto pilot failed. Turns out the owner was below with his assistant at the time of the crash.

 

[captddis]

No way would I want to bring a blowboat into Camachee Cove. The cross current when you enter the entrance channel is wicked! Had tp put the juice to it numerous times.

 

[Pascal]

Idiots... Talking about the tv crew, it s not a catamaran it s a trimaran! Duh... More like 26' not 20'... These corsairs are pretty nice actually but have a small outboard kicker, easy t see how he fell overboard trying to start it, they are not easy to reach. could have sailed if the winds were right but Still a little rough in the inlet for a boat that size...