Posted on 08/02/2015 8:48:03 AM PDT by FlJoePa
We don’t have salt water in my neck of the woods but we definitely have water up the wazoo and we live in and around it.
>>It is a way of life around here. Hard to understand for some people (including me at times), but it’s just the way it is, and has always been.
I grew up in the 70s in inland Florida (Gainesville), but my wife is from St Augustine and she never heard of 14 year olds going on a joyride to the Bahamas.
I’ve kept hoping that they’d be found alive, but truthfully that hope got pretty thin when they weren’t found with the overturned boat off Jacksonville.
Well, I think they were going fishing, not “joy riding”...also Jupiter is a lot closer to the Bahamas and Bimini than St. Augustine is.
I grew up there. Graduated from Jupiter High in the early 90’s. We weren’t allowed in the ocean. Jupiter Inlet is narrow and can get pretty rough even when it’s not stormy out. We stayed in the river/intracoastal.
When I was a kid I was on the boat with my dad & uncle fishing snook in the inlet and the engine died. Plenty of other boats around to give us a tow in, but I remember the comments from the men about how glad they were we weren’t out in the ocean.
I grew up there, know the “culture”, lived it myself. Boys that age don’t belong on the ocean by themselves. Sad outcome.
I used to let my 14yo loose on the Chesterpeake Bay with our Whaler, but I stopped doing that when I realized that he could hit 50mph with only his 90 lb frame in the boat.
Hey editor: Jeff Spicoli was the character played by Sean Penn in Fast Times at Ridgemont High.
Sad story though....I feel for the families of these young men.
It abt 60 mile run to the Bahamas, IIRC. Guys I know did it w/ 25 footers with two or three making the run together and they got beat up pretty good when it wasn’t pure glass. I’m not sure these two were making the run as much as got caught out too far in bad weather.
The missing item here is judgement in which 14 year old "salt lifers" are not associated with. No mention of floatation vests or the other safety measures that could have saved their lives.
>>Well, I think they were going fishing, not “joy riding”...also Jupiter is a lot closer to the Bahamas and Bimini than St. Augustine is.
It is closer, but fishing is still joyriding if you don’t need the fish to feed your family. I think the family got lulled into a false sense of security, as evidenced by the multiple “they were half-boy, half-fish” statements. The sea is a cruel place and you learn to respect it through experience. 14 year olds are not half-fish and lack the maturity to deal with the ocean in all circumstances. The same is true for most 40 year olds.
We live in a coastal town and spend our entire summer on the water. My husband grew up on the Long Island Sound and is an experienced boater. Yesterday, we headed out of our marina and no sooner had we passed the jetty than big black clouds heeded our way. We turned around and headed back in. Well, within minutes we had a vicious thunderstorm when none was forecast. Many of our boating friends were caught in it and had anchors not hold and some pretty scary minutes. You always have to be prepared. We’ve seen the ocean turn from serene to wild in a matter of minutes.
That being said ,my heart breaks for these families. I have a 14 year old grandson who also thinks he invincible.
There was one vest remaining with the overturned boat. It’s reasonable to assume that there was more than one on it. Teenage boys made a tragic error of judgement. They did not have their parent’s permission to leave the inlet. Barring something miraculous, it appears that those boys are gone. Prayers for the families.
Yeah, I think it’s agreed they shouldn’t have been out there - especially that day. I don’t believe they were heading to the Bahamas though. I think they were just out fishing, and as a previous (and knowledgeable poster) surmised - just got caught out too far.
And there were pfd’s and other floatables (including a seat cushion) on the boat that haven’t been recovered. I’m a bit surprised that a 3’ Yeti cooler can’t be found with all this searching.
Sounds like a great lifestyle.
So tragic.
Maybe buying and using personal epirbs ought to become part of the salt life
A couple hundred dollars worth of gear might have saved those boys
Sometimes because we were foolish and sometimes because of the Flying Fickle Finger of Fate.
Life was not meant to be lived in a bubble.
Winning post... Wife and I have sailed for a number of years including inshore waters and rivers and we always have personal EPIRBS on our PFDs. I think if these poor kids had even one between them this may have turned out better. God rest their souls.
Ditto. The bottom of the ocean is littered with the bones of Master Sailors.
I am from Florida and spent my life fishing and especially for many years in my young adulthood in Miami. We were out in the Keys every weekend in a fishing boat.
You have to watch out for those afternoon squalls like a hawk. When you see one you crank up and get away fast. That’s what adults do. Kids will wait too long and take chances which is why they have no business far off shore without an adult.
Its very tragic to see kids die somewhere they should not have been allowed to be without supervision.
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