Football players died after anchoring error

They took turns trying to pull up the stuck anchor, but not even the might of two NFL players and two former USF football players could break the Gulf of Mexico's grip.

[mainegirl]

I read the swallows and amazons books by arthur ransome when I was a teen and learned a very valuable boating lesson. Always carry a knife when around ropes.

[report]

mainegirl wrote:

I read the swallows and amazons books by arthur ransome when I was a teen and learned a very valuable boating lesson. Always carry a knife when around ropes.

Yes, and experienced boater's will tell you that when the anchor gets stuck 'cut the line' and let it go.

You can always buy another one and if they were heading back to shore they wouldn't have needed it anymore that day..

[UCFAlumn]

It is a sad ending for three and a life time of sorrow for the fourth.

[butcher]

i fish ponce all the time, there's boats, cables and who knows what in the bottom of that inlet. if the anchor doesn't come up and the tides moving too quick, I cut it. $40 line, $40 anchor equals nothing, the lives of those on my boat, priceless. they should of cut it. rest on weary sailors, you're loved and missed.

[beach bum]

I would not go 50 miles offshore in a boat less than 25 feei .Did they check the weather forecast?

[poor taxpayer]

butcher wrote:

i fish ponce all the time, there's boats, cables and who knows what in the bottom of that inlet. if the anchor doesn't come up and the tides moving too quick, I cut it.$40 line,$40 anchor equals nothing, the lives of those on my boat, priceless. they should of cut it. rest on weary sailors, you're loved and missed.

No doubt someone said "Hold my beer" and it was all downhill from there.

[report]

beach bum wrote:

I would not go 50 miles offshore in a boat less than 25 feei .Did they check the weather forecast?

We had bad weather warnings starting the day before they went out fishing we were expecting a storm that Sunday..

[report]

poor taxpayer wrote:

<quoted text>No doubt someone said "Hold my beer" and it was all downhill from there.

They had 4 men on board each probably weighed around 250 lbs plus the fishing gear and cooler so weight displacement must have been a little heavy for a boat that size..

[Captain Obvious]

mainegirl wrote:

I read the swallows and amazons books by arthur ransome when I was a teen and learned a very valuable boating lesson. Always carry a knife when around ropes.

No knife needed. Just un-tie it, unless you put some ridiculous knot on the cleat. They said they moved the anchor line to the stern of the boat - all they had to do was let it go...what a shame. All in pursuit of a mercury-laden sport-fish.

[teacher]

Our 23 foot cuddy, has a thick chain (no rope) for an anchor. What would I have done. No knife would work.

[captain jack]

ONLY 100 hours of boating experience and they go 50 miles offshore? PRICELESS. Extreme carelessness. At leat there was no canabalism (that we know off).

[Joe Comment]

I am an avid offshore boater. This story is of course very sad.

It is however a lesson in things you should and should not do when offshore. These young men made a multitude of mistakes. Of course, cut the line to the anchor if your having that much difficulty bringing it up with the weather picking up and dwindling daylight.

There were other critical mistakes as well. 1st mistake was taking a boat of that size that far out. If the plan is to go that far out then you should be prepared to the max w/ safety equipment such as a handheld gps and vhf radio and EPERB. You must be prepare in he event that you would have to abandon ship. Abandon ship means getting out of the boat NOT leaving it. If you must leave the boat - you will need a raft.(can be created with anything that floats + rope if necessary) Once capsized, it is imperative to stay with the boat. Preferabbly on top of the capsized vessel such as the lone survivor. Anything that would float should be retrieved from tha boat along with rope tie flotation devices as well as the people together. Also, this might sound silly but once the sun came out the following morning - clothes possible could have been hung out to dry.

[Michelle]

How can anyone believe this story! I believe there was an altercation and that "Survival of the Fittest" is why he was sitting alone on TOP of the boat!

Why would the other two take their vests off? If you are weak, you stop holding on and just float. Why would anyone consider taking it off?

ABSURD!

[report]

Michelle wrote:

How can anyone believe this story! I believe there was an altercation and that "Survival of the Fittest" is why he was sitting alone on TOP of the boat!
Why would the other two take their vests off? If you are weak, you stop holding on and just float. Why would anyone consider taking it off?
ABSURD!

Not too mention your natural instinct to survive..

If for nothing else even the most novice fisherman and novice boater know to 'stay with the boat' if it capsizes ..

[lifelong boater]

report wrote:

<quoted text>
Yes, and experienced boater's will tell you that when the anchor gets stuck 'cut the line' and let it go.
You can always buy another one and if they were heading back to shore they wouldn't have needed it anymore that day..

Absolutely. There's a reason why they call them "anchors"--sometimes they do a better job than we want them to! Always carry a knife and cut it loose. I had to do that myself on one occasion. What a tragedy.

[lifelong boater]

Captain Obvious wrote:

<quoted text>
No knife needed. Just un-tie it, unless you put some ridiculous knot on the cleat. They said they moved the anchor line to the stern of the boat - all they had to do was let it go...what a shame. All in pursuit of a mercury-laden sport-fish.

Sometimes our knots are as good as our anchors!!:) We ended up literally cutting ours loose. I bet it never even occurred to them to let the anchor and line go. Very sad.

[report]

lifelong boater wrote:

<quoted text>
Absolutely. There's a reason why they call them "anchors"--sometimes they do a better job than we want them to! Always carry a knife and cut it loose. I had to do that myself on one occasion. What a tragedy.

And if they were fishing knives would have been part of their fishing gear like bait and lures ..

[PortagePath]

Wow, I'm so surprised everyone is commenting with such vigor after the fact. I hope that at least with this being made public a life or two down the road will be saved.
To sit back in judgement is not neccessary at this point. As a poster stated there are 3 grieving families and one survivor who will have sorrow over this for the rest of his days.
Mistakes are made daily and accidents happen, on our roadways, waterways and crosswalks just to name a few. To sit back and chastise them after their death is uncalled for.
I pray for the families and may they rest in peace out at sea.

[Smarter Boater]

teacher wrote:

Our 23 foot cuddy, has a thick chain (no rope) for an anchor. What would I have done. No knife would work.

You can't possibly have that much chain on a boat that size. Maybe a six to fifteen foot section at the anchor end which is typical but you're not going to anchor in 150' of water without rope on a 23' boat.

[John]

poor taxpayer wrote:

<quoted text>No doubt someone said "Hold my beer" and it was all downhill from there.

That is probably the truth of it all.......I feel bad because I found this to be so true it made me laugh.....Sorry.