Just a small reminder of how important boating safety is

[Dennischaves]

16 years ago this weekend 5 friends went fishing and only 2 came home one of the survivors was my father https://www.google.com/amp/www.capecodtimes.com/article/20020526/NEWS01/305269943?template=ampart

 

[tpenfield]

Buzzards Bay - that is were I boat. Gets nasty out there. Sad story, something like this seems to happen in these waters every year.

It is a bit surprising that a 22 foot boat did not have floatation.

Glad your dad survived.

 

[Dennischaves]

I was surprised to that it didn' have flotation
I remember the boat very well it was a nice center console
they were coming in from Cleveland ledge lighthouse

 

[high&dry]

Always sad to hear.

Outboard boats under 20 feet are required to have a minumum level flotation if equipped with more than 2.5 horsepower. Sterndrives, only require basic flotation which means they will have very little hull out of the water. Level flotation means the boat is level in static conditions and will not self dewater. These are minimum requirements.

 

[Old Ironmaker]

Tragic. There is always many stories similar each and every year and will unfortunately continue. If anyone has been around the water long enough we each have a similar tragic story to tell. I have found that sometimes experience can be a bad thing. Not just on the water but in all aspects of life from driving a vehicle to the workplace. "I have been doing it this way for 30 years and nothing has happened" is often what I hear. Nothing has happened yet. I think back to some of the things oldtimers did at the plant in the 70's when I was a puppy training and it still makes the hair on my neck stand up. Like rather than talking the stairs one oldtimer showed me how to jump across a moving conveyor with a 50 foot drop to get to another building quickly rather then take the stairs. The same 65 year old Foreman with 45 years service that said rather than to test for CO in a Confined Space take a deep breath and run through into and out of a pit to inspect it. I told him I would not do either and he turned me in to the General Foreman. That didn't turn out well for him, he retired soon after. I could write a book.