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Sailor Lost on Chesapeake Bay

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Steve Milby
Past Commodore

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USA
5902 Posts

Initially Posted - 12/16/2011 : 09:49:51

A friend in Maryland just told me about a Russian sailor who left my marina in a Pearson 30 a few days ago, heading for Florida. He got as far as Tangier Island, about +-30 miles south of the marina, and, at 3:54 a.m., he reported to the Coast Guard that he had struck something and his boat was sinking, and requested help. By the time the Coast Guard arrived, the boat had sunk and the sailor could not be found. It is believed that he struck a submerged ship that was used as a bombing practice target during WWII.

I wasn't acquainted with him. I suspect he arrived at the marina this fall, after I had my boat hauled for the winter. The marina manager said the man wore a pfd whenever he was on the docks, so I suspect he was not a good swimmer.

Another man, who I am told was a friend of his, also left the marina at around the same time on a Hunter, and he is reported to have arrived safely in Norfolk.

I don't know, of course, what caused this, but suspect traveling alone at night in an unfamiliar area had something to do with it. Maybe he fell asleep, or didn't peek around the sail and see the lighted marker. Maybe he waited too long to start south, and, because it was cold, maybe he was traveling at night, to get south as quickly as possible, where it would be warmer. The longer you sail, the more you realize that sailing tragedies are often preceded by minor, seemingly insignificant misjudgments.

http://www.delmarvanow.com/article/20111214/ESN01/112140365/Sailor-still-missing-in-bay?od yssey=mod%7Cnewswell%7Ctext%7CEastern%20Shore%20News%7Cs

Steve Milby J/24 "Captiva Wind"
previously C&C 35, Cal 25, C25 TR/FK, C22
Past Commodore

Edited by - on

dmpilc
Master Marine Consultant

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USA
4593 Posts

Response Posted - 12/16/2011 : 10:52:10

Seems like there should be 3 lighted buoys in a triangle around this wreckage. However, if he wasn't paying attention to where he was sailing, the extra markers might not have made any difference.

Edited by - dmpilc on 12/16/2011 10:53:24

dlucier
Master Marine Consultant

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Virgin Islands (United Kingdom)
7583 Posts

Response Posted - 12/16/2011 : 13:46:27

Not good to say the least.

Looking at the chart, aside from the somewhat usual submerged shipwreck, the "unexploded bombs and shells" warning is something one doesn't normally see on a chart!

Edited by - on

Stinkpotter
Master Marine Consultant

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Djibouti
9081 Posts

Response Posted - 12/16/2011 : 16:50:18

I have the charts at home--I'm not there now... but I recall an area of "target" wrecks on the "outside" (west) of Tangier Island, where I suspect a boat headed for Norfolk would be. I believe there are USN markers around it, and it is well charted--but I haven't actually been there. One complication is if you go very far west of that area, you're in the busy shipping channel to/from Baltimore--he might have been avoiding that in dead darkness. Tough stuff.

Edited by - Stinkpotter on 12/16/2011 16:51:07

dlucier
Master Marine Consultant

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Virgin Islands (United Kingdom)
7583 Posts

Response Posted - 12/16/2011 : 18:35:59

I spent a few years working in Dahlgren, VA, home to the [url="http://www.navsea.navy.mil/nswc/dahlgren/RANGE/boating.aspx"]Naval Surface Warfare Center[/url] where they tested the big guns by firing them onto the test range over the water. When they fired the 16 inchers, it would rattle my office and my windows at home 5 miles away.

Edited by - dlucier on 12/17/2011 20:49:56

Steve Milby
Past Commodore

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USA
5902 Posts

Response Posted - 12/16/2011 : 18:50:53

<blockquote id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">Originally posted by dlucier
 I spent a few years working in Dahlgren, VA, home to the [url="http://www.navsea.navy.mil/nswc/dahlgren/RANGE/boating.aspx"]Naval Surface Warefare Center[/url] where they tested the big guns by firing them onto the test range over the water. When they fired the 16 inchers, it would rattle my office and my windows at home 5 miles away.
<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">
Coming from the midwest, where the only time anything ever blows up is on the fourth of July, it has been a shock to see some of the stuff the government does around the Chesapeake Bay. I sailed past the Aberdeen Proving Grounds, and it sounded like the battle for Fallujah was going on, even though I have heard they don't do much testing there anymore. Another time, the Coast Guard announced on vhf that the Navy was going to conduct live fire exercises in the area. In the announcement, they specified the lat. and long. where it was going to happen, but, of course, I didn't hear that part, so I spent the next couple of hours watching the horizon and listening for the high pitched scream of projectiles, even though they say the one that is going to get you is the one you don't hear.

Edited by - on

TakeFive
Master Marine Consultant

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2272 Posts

Response Posted - 12/17/2011 : 13:14:02

<blockquote id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">Originally posted by dlucier
 I spent a few years working in Dahlgren, VA, home to the [url="http://www.navsea.navy.mil/nswc/dahlgren/RANGE/boating.aspx"]Naval Surface Warefare Center[/url] where they tested the big guns by firing them onto the test range over the water. When they fired the 16 inchers, it would rattle my office and my windows at home 5 miles away.<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">
That brings back good memories. I learned to sail at Dahlgren (>30 years ago), on one of the fleet boats that were kept there for the military brass. Tom Adams, a Navy physicist, was one of the top military guys there at the time, and he took me out and taught me all of the basics of sail trimming. I had dated his daughter for about 5 years. He lived in a big old house, just a few hundred feet from the boat dock at Hoge Wharf. Not bad for government housing, but I'm sure he earned it through many years of paying his dues. He loved it so much that he stayed in that house for several years even after he was transferred to the Pentagon - almost 2 hour commute each way.

Come to think of it, he also taught me to waterski there (on his own 40hp Lucraft 14). That guy had a huge impact on me. I brought his son all the way from Oak Harbor, WA, to act as my broker when I bought my Catalina 2 years ago.

I also have a very funny childhood story about my family "making a run for it" through the Dahlgren danger zone in our houseboat. I'll tell that sometime when I have more time.

Edited by - TakeFive on 12/17/2011 15:25:35

Voyager
Master Marine Consultant

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USA
5377 Posts

Response Posted - 12/17/2011 : 20:40:40

I'm sorry the unwitting sailor lost his life. Poor judgment and unfamiliarity with the locale and conditions. Wonder whether he even had charts?

The bay is a treasure and for it to be treated like this by our government is a travesty.
Until we learn to respect the handiwork of the Creator it will come back to get us.
Too bad it'll take generations for these lessons to sink in, by then who knows what shape the world will be in?

Edited by - on

redviking
Master Marine Consultant

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USA
1771 Posts

Response Posted - 12/19/2011 : 06:29:05

The sea is a harsh mistress, you love her, but she cannot be trusted even for a minute. Her regular customers Neptune and Poseidon are always looking for a way to pay her off. Boats, tools, bodies, she takes it all in trade. No one is immune to her power. Stop paying attention and she'll take you in an instant, and that's where you'll always be, floating somewhere in the sea.

sten

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OJ
Master Marine Consultant

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USA
4382 Posts

Response Posted - 12/19/2011 : 17:22:47

Here's a question from an inland boater who has no need for a marine gps.

Does a marine gps give any audible warning that you are on course to strike an object like this?

Edited by - OJ on 12/19/2011 17:44:15

Steve Milby
Past Commodore

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USA
5902 Posts

Response Posted - 12/19/2011 : 18:52:58

<blockquote id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">Originally posted by OJ
 Here's a question from an inland boater who has no need for a marine gps.

Does a marine gps give any audible warning that you are on course to strike an object like this?
<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">I've never seen a gps that would do that, but I am guessing that radar could.

Edited by - on

Voyager
Master Marine Consultant

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USA
5377 Posts

Response Posted - 12/19/2011 : 19:48:37

On many GPSs you can mark a hazard if you enter its coordinates into the GPS.
For example, there is a nasty set of rocks east of New Haven harbor that are generally submerged just below the surface called Townsend Reef.
I have created a "danger zone" in my GPS consisting of four nearby points (coming from east, from west, from south and from north). The reef is literally surrounded by these points, and the danger zones overlap, so if I get within a few hundred feet of the rocks, my GPS will start to beep.
Obviously, one must take "piloting" seriously to plot out a course before you leave the dock, check the entire course on your charts for nearby hazards, accurately locate their Lat/Long, enter them into the GPS and stick to your course. You may even determine whether you have a chance of significantly deviating from your course, due to weather conditions, wind direction, chop, sea state or other hazards.
If so, you may want to chart alternate courses and enter additional hazards into your GPS.

Edited by - on

Dave5041
Former Mainsheet Editor

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USA
3758 Posts

Response Posted - 12/19/2011 : 19:51:15

You can establish a "danger zone" around objects on many, but you need to do that in advance because it isn't automatic. Many hazards to sailboats, as you would imagine, are of no concern to a 23 foot fisherman and the alarms would be irritating.

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TakeFive
Master Marine Consultant

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2272 Posts

Response Posted - 12/19/2011 : 20:09:39

When researching the installation of my AIS receiver, I read that AIS has the capability to provide alerts from stationary hazards, but USCG has apparently not implemented it. As currently implemented, AIS is transmitted from large commercial vessels, and the transmissions include identifying information, long/lat, speed, course, rate of turn, etc. This same technology enables the USCG to transmit "virtual beacons" from their land stations (no need to transmit from the actual object) that identify the location and nature of stationary objects, including submerged hazards, "virtual buoys" to mark temporary channels, etc. Most AIS receiver software, whether on a PC or embedded in a chart plotter, provide collision alarms whenever your path comes within a set distance of other AIS targets. So, if implemented, AIS could be a perfect technology for marking obstacles such as this - even better than radar, since the objects could be submerged.

However, I doubt that AIS would have prevented this accident, since it seems the victim did not have much technology on his boat.

By the way, here's another Chesapeake Bay casualty from this weekend. One dead, one missing:

[url="http://articles.baltimoresun.com/2011-12-18/news/bs-md-missing-boater-20111218_1_boater-bay-search-sunken-boat"]Bay search: Rescuers discontinue hunt for missing boater - Baltimore Sun[/url]

[url="http://www.wjla.com/articles/2011/12/daniel-denike-killed-tyler-cordrey-missing-in-chesapeake-bay-boating-accident-70497.html"]Daniel Denike killed, Tyler Cordrey missing in Chesapeake Bay boating accident | WJLA.com[/url]

Edited by - TakeFive on 12/20/2011 08:39:54

redeye
Master Marine Consultant

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3476 Posts

Response Posted - 12/20/2011 : 05:12:11

I'm gonna learn verbatim what Sten said.. and wait for the day, one night late, when we are anchored and drinkin onboard to quote the Red Viking!

WHoooHoooo.....

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britinusa
Web Editor

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USA
5404 Posts

Response Posted - 12/20/2011 : 05:34:37

Sten, that text is going on a plaque!

Paul

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Stinkpotter
Master Marine Consultant

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Djibouti
9081 Posts

Response Posted - 12/20/2011 : 07:26:36

<blockquote id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">Originally posted by Steve Milby
 <blockquote id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">Originally posted by OJ
 ...Does a marine gps give any audible warning that you are on course to strike an object like this?<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">I've never seen a gps that would do that, but I am guessing that radar could.<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">...only if it sticks up above the waves. It will almost certainly see the buoys marking the hazard.

I haven't set up danger zones for the many nasty rocks around here--I haven't wanted to slip into an assumption that the GPS is going to keep me from hitting something. But there are a couple of particularly treacherous spots I might mark some day.

Edited by - Stinkpotter on 12/20/2011 07:32:08

Stinkpotter
Master Marine Consultant

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Djibouti
9081 Posts

Response Posted - 12/20/2011 : 07:41:51

My saying has less charm, but sets the perspective...

"The water wants to kill us."

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redviking
Master Marine Consultant

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USA
1771 Posts

Response Posted - 12/22/2011 : 01:44:48

<blockquote id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">Originally posted by redeye
 I'm gonna learn verbatim what Sten said.. and wait for the day, one night late, when we are anchored and drinkin onboard to quote the Red Viking!

WHoooHoooo.....
<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">

Sadly, those words came to me after realizing how many are lost annually. Cars, planes and motorcycles are dangerous too, but somehow a loss of life at sea seems preventable...

sten

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