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Missing kids in Fla

  • Thread starter Thread starter rsmith
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Good link. I've been following this story closely, reads like a sad ending, but it just does not add up to me. Not judging at all because I don't have kids. And, my father had me out boating lakes, ICW, offshore before I was out of diapers. He bought his first boat the day AFTER I was born because my mother would not let him buy it before I arrived .... arriving "ok" that is, or so they thought.

And, I used our boats solo early. Buddies and I used to teach skiing on the lake using our boat when I was young, prob younger than I should have been. But that was decades ago. Rule was, if I could get the gas money, I could use the boat.

Last night I looked at my 78 y/o father and said ... would you have let me take that boat offshore like that at 14? I won't repeat what he said, but it = no.

Curious to see what others say.
 
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As a parent of a teenage boy, up and down just off the beach for Spanish is okay....offshore, no sir.

Especially given the 19' boat and:
Complicating matters, he said, was a series of powerful thunderstorms up and down the coast Friday.
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With the weather the way it was they shouldn't have been out in the river most of the day. I have a 16 year old and he would not have been allowed to head anywhere near open water with the weather we've been having. That's rivers here not even close to the ocean in waves and currents. They sadly got over confident and may have paid the ultimate price.
 
In all the boating courses I've ever taken, they say if capsized, stay with the boat because in most cases (less than 25 ft), it has flotation and is easy to spot. I've had a lot of debates about how easy it is to hold on to the bottom of a fiberglass boat, but if these kids were so well trained, why didn't they stay with the boat?

Also, if going offshore out of VHF range, where's their EPRIB?
 
A follow up article I read said they were not allowed to take the boat offshore. I think the Bahamas story was some news reporter add on. Apparently there was no VHF or ship to shore only cell phones. IMHO too much reliance on cells for comm. it gets me. also that the search areas are always behind the 8 ball. I've swordfished the area and the drift to the north is incredible. We started one night off Jupiter light and ended up north of Melbourne by first light. Some years ago we came across 4 bodies off Ft Pierce. That were from a plane that went down off Lantana the day before. The "Coasties" were. Still searching off Palm Beach when we came across them.one telling thing was they were all intact and made it out of the plane ok. None had life jackets on. Even though it was summer I would bet they died of hypothermia. You have to wonder why the kids didn't stay with the boat.
 
I was wondering why nobody had posted on this topic given how many members we have in that area of Florida. I've been following it closely, and there are lots of story variations out there as to where these boys were headed and whether or not they were "allowed" to take the boat into the ocean. Lots of armchair quarterbacking and parent bashing. As a parent of a 12 year old, I can't imagine what those parents are going through right now.
 
Typed my last post about an hour ago and just now posted it. As for them not staying with the boat, I'm guessing that wasn't an option. If you get thrown out and separated from your boat, there's no way you're going to catch it if there's any wind. I'm guessing it would move faster in the current that a swimmer could match speed, let alone catch it. Just a bad situation.
 
It's always a tragedy when anyone gets lost at sea (or anywhere else). I feel for those kids because I had a very bad experience as a very young man as well. The difference was that we were found and rescued after 4 hours about 16 miles off the coast of NJ at 1:30 AM. Someone on a ship heading out to sea saw our one waterproof flashlight and all hell broke loose. To make a long story shorter we were pulled aboard a lifeboat and transferred at sea to a pilot boat. Front page of all the newspapers including New York City (must have been a slow news weekend). Our survival training in the Navy saved our hides.
 
The pain associated with the loss of a child must be unfathomable. Fortunately, I do not know. With that said, I wish the press and the papers would take a step back and feel for the families rather than lay blame. If this turns out the wrong way, there will be plenty of time for that although that wil not brings these kids back.
 
Any loss at sea is sad. The kids this week. The bounty. The titanic. It's all about blame when the press gets involved. Something has to sell ads for the news and most news people couldn't give a rats ass about the people involved as long as they get their name out there.

The kids didn't belong there for sure but that's not making the family feel better.
 
At 14 years of age I did not have access to a boat of any kind. I did however have a ten speed bike
and there were plenty of times friends and I took the bikes to destinations that were not sanctioned
by parents, not known to parents, and not necessarily safe. 14 year old boys will test the limits,
using whatever assets are available to them. Bottom line, this is not the time to blame anyone, but a time to pray for these two young men and their families. There is plenty of time to figure out
fault, but the families will never fully recover.

Let's pray for a miracle, cause at this point it seems like that is what it is going to take for a happy ending.
 
Agreed. I remember my friends and I taking off from Manhattan and just deciding to ride our bikes down to the ferry and go to Staten Island. We got home at 11 pm or so. My parents were not happy about it.
 
foleyjt said:
At 14 years of age I did not have access to a boat of any kind. I did however have a ten speed bike
and there were plenty of times friends and I took the bikes to destinations that were not sanctioned
by parents, not known to parents, and not necessarily safe. 14 year old boys will test the limits,
using whatever assets are available to them. Bottom line, this is not the time to blame anyone, but a time to pray for these two young men and their families. There is plenty of time to figure out
fault, but the families will never fully recover.

Let's pray for a miracle, cause at this point it seems like that is what it is going to take for a happy ending.
Click to expand...

Amen!

For any of you who want to follow this on a minute by minute basis, check out this thread on The Hull Truth. Can't post if you're not a member, but you can read reports as they come in. Lots of folks are monitoring this one and providing real time information.

http://www.thehulltruth.com/boating-forum/692463-help-my-schoolmate-lost-sea-reward-82.html
 
foleyjt said:
At 14 years of age I did not have access to a boat of any kind. I did however have a ten speed bike
and there were plenty of times friends and I took the bikes to destinations that were not sanctioned
by parents, not known to parents, and not necessarily safe. 14 year old boys will test the limits,
using whatever assets are available to them. Bottom line, this is not the time to blame anyone, but a time to pray for these two young men and their families. There is plenty of time to figure out
fault, but the families will never fully recover.

Let's pray for a miracle, cause at this point it seems like that is what it is going to take for a happy ending.
Click to expand...

At 14 I bought my own jon boat. My Dad paid for the motor. I had a trolling motor and bass fished from our camp on the river. I spent most of the summer on the river. My parents worked and my grandmother drove me down to the river. I took her bream fishing and those were the best years of my entire life. At 15 we had our drivers license and drove my Dads truck pulling his bass boat hours away fishing all night. We grew up being given lots of responsibility. Apparently these kids were kinda in the same boat. However, they did text their friends and say we are heading to the Bahamas. Man, what a crazy thing to want to do. What can you expect from a kid 14 yrs old. Thats something I would have done if I had access to the ocean. I must say I was crazy and very lucky to be alive. I know now God must have been looking out for me. Now I hope God is with these young boys.
 
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I had my first boat at age 10 with no restrictions on where or how far I could go. You can only get into so much trouble with a 12' jon boat and a 3HP Evinrude with a 6 ounce integral tank, but there was plenty of opportunity for disaster.

I never will forget being in a boat that belonged to a friend's dad who had just replaced a 40HP Johnson with a 75HP McCullough on a 14' Larson runabout. It seems his dad was pretty upset that I was able to outrun him with my fourth boat, another 12' jon boat with a 9.8 Mercury. We were around 15 and had permission to take it for a "spin", and we were just cruising down the river in that thing while my buddy was gently steering from port to starboard and back, just enjoying the moment at speeds (35 or so) we had never seen before.

All of a sudden, the boat went sideways! You haven't lived until you've seen a 75 McCullough running alone across the top of the water and headed right toward where you are sitting! That sucker came off the transom and tried to jump back in the boat with us! Luckily the steering and control cables kept it from visiting the bottom of the river, but we were never allowed to run that boat again... even though his dad was obviously at fault since he mounted the thing. No, I didn't point that out. :D

Man, I just hope to God they find these kids. Seeing that old guy's Hatt go up in flames was bad enough, but at least money can fix that. Losing those boys can't be fixed.
 
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Going on 5days now gota figure they're gone. Talking to one of my old mates last night down in Boca he was saying the water has been unusually cold due to some up swelling currents. Said its been flat out every day too. Those of us that live here know the afternoon thunder bumpers are pretty much brief and normally isolated. Waterspout maybe? It will be all speculation. The fact that the motor cover was off there's a good chance that they broke down and just fell off trying to fix the motor. The boat will drift way faster than anyone can swim. Moral here is to do everything you can to stay with the boat. I think a lot of us on here that did crazy stuff on the water as kids can say there but for the grace of God go I.
 
Ok soap box time. IMHO bare feet flip flops crocks or any other inappropriate foot ware have no business on your feet when on a boat. I've seen my fair share of people slip fall trip on boats. Every year when I was a kid the old man took me down to IG Goldberg's the only boating store in Philly at the time and bought me a pair of new topsiders. Not the fancy leather ones but the canvas Gilligan kind.
 
I have two young boys who I know will be boating solo shortly. This story has been very difficult for me to follow. I can't begin to imagine what the families are going through. I will say it is great to see many here comment on how we made some bad choices as kids. Blaming the kids or thier parents won't change a thing. I know there's a lot of things I did as a kid that could have ended badly for me or friends involved. All of us thought we were invincible at that age. Scott said it best, "I think a lot of us on here that did crazy stuff on the water as kids can say there but for the grace of God go I."
 
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