Re: Food for thought Bad things happen FAST!
not second guessing the guys involved, but a couple of take away points:
Turn into windward before cutting the motor or loosing forward speed.
Grab what you can. PFDs, obviously, but lines, flashlight, anything to atteact attention or which floats.
Once you take the first wave, you have less than 30 seconds before it rolls
The roll can be very dangerous--you can get trapped, whacked on the head, etc. You instinctively move to the high side but that is not always the best place to be.
Other boaters: investigate the boats who are around you. I've often seen stuff that looks not right, but most of the time it ends up OK. And stand by when someone is having problems, since even solvable problems can go bad quickly. Keep an eye on the guy who says he's OK after a problem.
A bailing bucket is important even on a self-bailing boat. A hat or cooler will work OK.
