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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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
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.
I grew up in a similar fashion in northern Michigan so I can sort of relate.
If the parents had the trust in their kids to allow them access to the boat on the ocean then that's fine with me, I'm in no position to judge.
Yes it is. Thanks for posting. My nine year old grandson can already name more of the local fish displayed at the local manatee center than the docents can.