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Surviving at sea

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By FRANK SARGEANT

Tribune correspondent

Published: May 31, 2009

National Safe Boating Week ended last weekend, and there was another grim reminder that boating can be dangerous. This time, three children drowned on Lake George, near Ocala.

As that tragedy shows, you need not be far at sea to get in trouble. The boaters were aboard a 20-foot cabin cruiser, which should have been more than adequate for a day on an inland lake.

But the family of Dennis Todd Lennon of Eustis was caught by an afternoon storm that turned the lake into a maelstrom. Rolling waves flooded his boat, then rolled it over, trapping the children below decks. Even though the children wore life jackets, three died because they were unable to escape the cabin, according to Joy Hill, spokeswoman for the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.

The first step in staying safe afloat is to keep an eye on the weather, and these days it's easier than ever. Television and Internet broadcasts (including TBO.com) show current and expected conditions up to the minute, and it's possible to get weather radar on your cellular phone. If conditions are expected to be poor, there's no reason to go boating. If they go bad while you're miles from the dock, however, you might have to make a judgment call that can save the lives of all aboard.

While it's always tempting to head for the boat ramp when a storm catches you, sometimes a better choice is simply to pull into a protected area and wait it out. This might mean you'll get wet and cold, and be scared by lightning, but that's better than taking your boat into sea conditions that are too much for it - or for your skill level.

Florida's biggest lakes, including George and Okeechobee, have enough "fetch" or breadth to allow seas more than 6 feet to build quickly. Many boats that are completely adequate in 2- to 3-footers are woefully overmatched when taller waves begin to roll.

The same is true for large bays such as Tampa Bay and Charlotte Harbor, where extreme wind conditions can turn up amazing seas. A few years back, a Tampa Bay boater running a 20-foot bay boat slammed his bow into a wave so steep that it "pitch-poled" the boat, sending it somersaulting. Remarkably, no one was seriously injured.

There are several things to do if you get caught in a storm (see accompanying box), but the best advice on dealing with bad weather in a boat is "don't do it." It's always better to be on land wishing you were offshore than to be offshore wishing you were on land.

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