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Play It Safe In Florida Waters

Photo from Clay Eavenson

Marquis Cooper was one of four men who went missing in the Gulf of Mexico.

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By FRANK SARGEANT

Tribune correspondent

Published: March 7, 2009

The tragedy last weekend in the waters off Tampa Bay is a grim reminder to all who enjoy boating that nobody is immune to the dangers of the sea. Three young athletes presumably lost their lives despite their strength, endurance and plenty of boating experience, and it could as well have been any one of us who head offshore.

Modern, unsinkable boats and today's highly dependable engines tend to make many skippers feel a bit more secure than they should. Sooner or later, for those who push the envelope, a combination of problems can create a potential disaster.

Avoiding trouble is mostly a matter of using extra caution. Thousands of boaters and anglers enjoy Florida's Gulf Coast every weekend without a problem. Even when things go wrong, those who are thoroughly prepared can return home safely.

It starts with the boat.

A boat of adequate size, checked inside and out for seaworthiness, is a must. Two or more high-volume bilge pumps with automatic switches are a good beginning. So are several backup batteries, for those pumps and for starting the engines.

Twin engines are a huge security factor; sooner or later, something will go wrong with a single engine. If you have two, you can still get home safely.

Plenty of fuel is also a must. The rule of experienced skippers is to use no more than one-third of a tank for heading out and one-fourth for fishing, reserving the rest for returning home. Reserve more for the return than it took to go out, because heavy seas can greatly increase fuel consumption.

Communications gear is also essential. Anyone operating more than 20 miles offshore is wise to invest in a satellite phone, which allows instant contact from nearly anywhere on the globe. Cell phones don't work dependably much beyond 10 to 15 miles out, though the range can be stretched with add-on antennas. A VHF radio also can help, at ranges to 25 miles or so - and you often can reach other boats while far at sea.

Emergency position indicating rescue beacons (EPIRBs) are also highly recommended for anyone operating more than a few miles from land. Most of these are rigged to begin transmitting an emergency signal, including your GPS location, anytime they are submerged in water. One for the boat and a smaller version for each individual aboard provides maximum safety. The data these beam to emergency responders allows the teams to travel directly to the site, cutting rescue times to a minimum.

Finally, for those operating far at sea, it's wise to carry an inflatable life raft, though these tend to be too large for storage in boats less than 35 feet long. The rafts inflate with CO-2 canisters and usually have food, water and emergency signaling gear stored on board. Most also have a top for protection from wind, spray and sunburn. They make survival for days or even weeks possible.

But perhaps more important than all this safety gear is the free weather information that's widely available on the Internet and television weather stations. The satellite views of approaching weather combined with radar imagery take all the guesswork out of knowing when bad weather will strike. You can even get local weather radar sent to your cell phone. And wind and sea conditions are no longer just guesses. On-line information received direct from buoys far offshore take the surprises out of a voyage, but only for mariners who make use of them.

Even with all this, it's still possible for a series of events to cause problems.

Perhaps you know bad weather is due tomorrow but figure you can get in a fishing trip today, long before conditions go sour. Then, just as you get far offshore, your motor dies. Now you draw down your battery trying to get it restarted. Soon there's not enough juice left to power your VHF radio to call for help. Things are fine for a while, but then the approaching storm finally strikes. By now, you had hoped to be long back ashore, but you're not. Waves start coming over the transom because you can't control your drift and keep the bow into the seas, and that water coming aboard can't be pumped back out because there's no power to the bilge pumps. The boat fills, loses its natural resistance to rolling, and overturns.

In a cold sea, even if you have life jackets, your survival time will now be measured in hours. Soon, even the strongest can no longer hang on to the slick bottom of the boat. They drift away, and odds of finding them drop dramatically.

None of us is bulletproof. Consistent caution and preparation are as much a part of offshore fishing as is a cooler of fresh bait and a box of hooks.

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