Posted on 07/26/2015 12:26:22 PM PDT by FlJoePa
JUPITER, Fla. —The family of one of the missing teen boaters told WPBF 25 Sunday afternoon that their overturned boat was found off Jacksonville.
The fate of the teens is unknown.
Perry Cohen and Austin Stephanos, both 14, were aboard a 19-foot white single-engine boat.
The U.S. Coast Guard said the boat is being towed to Jacksonville.
The teens were last seen around 1 p.m. Friday after buying $110 worth of fuel at The Jib.
Perry and Austin left shore en route to the Bahamas.
The disappearances were alerted to Tequesta police at about 5 p.m.
Tequesta officers, along with the Palm Beach and Martin County sheriff's offices, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission and the U.S. Coast Guard, searched through the night for the teens.
The U.S. Coast Guard said it had covered 14,447 nautical miles as of Sunday morning.
Pam Telvi Cohen, Perry's mother, said there is a $100,000 reward for the boys' safe return.
The families held a news conference Sunday morning thanking the public for their support. They also thanked the Coast Guard.
"The commitment (of the U.S. Coast Guard) has been fantastic," said Nick Korniloff, Perry's stepfather.
Football Hall of Famer Joe Namath is a neighbor of the families and joined them at Sunday's press conference.
That bodes ill.
One article implies the boys asked permission to sail to the Bahamas and got it.
Another implies that the boys simply took the boat for what the parents assumed was their routine local fishing trip, and the parents are now only surmising that they attempted the Bahamas trip.
“Irresponsible people ruin it for everybody. Freedom will be lost.”
That shows you what kind of government we have.
Reminds me of the time my friend and I went water skiing in the deep ocean with choppy seas. Total insanity. My friend turned blue from falling into the ice cold water and I could barely get him back into the boat. I miss those days. LOL
Parents are responsible for their children and their actions. They should have taught them to behave responsible and not reckless. They have stopped their kids from doing what they did.
I think this is the case that Joe Namath has become involved with the search and a $100,000 reward for the boys return, or something like that.
The last sentence should have read, the parents should have stopped their kids.
Those parents are very distraught right now, recriminations won’t help those two boys.
I’m pretty sure their deaths, if that’s what happened, will be punishment enough, unless you’re some kind of sick ghoul.
The $100K reward for safe return of the boys seems odd, unless there are unreported details.
Not sure why it seems odd. It makes certain that all the boaters and fishermen are out there keeping an eye out for them - for one thing.
I am from Jax and spent a great deal of time in Jupiter in my younger years. It is a looong way from Jupiter to Jax. And the Bahamas is the other way.
Who in their right mind would let their 14 year olds go out in the ocean in a 19 ft boat much less go to the Bahamas. I’ve done the Bimini run and its 3 hours and you always do a 2-3 boat caravan over and back. Because of the drug runners I wouldn’t do it for any reason now.
I seriously doubt that boat drifted from Jupiter to Jax. It sounds to me like they met up with some bad people.
Those parents are out of their minds.
Who lets their 14 yr old do this?
Boat was found off Volusia County, not Jacksonville as had been reported.
We don’t know what their parents gave them permission to do. It sounds to me like they were expecting them back Friday at dusk.
If you spent a lot time here, you know that there is nothing unusual about kids this age in boats on the water. Sounds like they should have been better prepared/equipped for whatever trip they planned, but dumping on the parents at this point (without all the facts) doesn’t seem to help either.
Rogue wave, perhaps.
A properly trained 14-year-old could do it.
If they have the skills and training, 14 is not too young.
No!
I lived in Miami and I spent my twenties and half my thirties in a fishing boat out in the keys every weekend. Nobody in their right mind would have ever let two 14 year old kids take off for the Bahamas in a 19 ft boat. The teens would spin around the back country in little skiffs but never out in the Ocean. Not without an adult.
Maybe times have changed but not for the wiser. If the parents knew about it and said it was OK then they were really foolhardy. Now they will never see their kids again. Sad.
“OH Perry apparently commanded a Navy ship at 18.”
Yeah, but he never watched Beavis and Butthead....
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