Florida Teens Lost at Sea Have Been Missing for Six Days

People ^ | 07/30/2015 | Tara Fowler

[ScottWalkerForPresident2016]

The desperate search for two missing Florida teens entered its sixth day on Thursday with no sign of the boys.

Perry Cohen and Austin Stephanos, both 14, were last seen buying fuel for their boat near Jupiter, Florida, on Friday. That boat was found capsized on Sunday, about 67 miles off the coast of the Ponce de Leon Inlet. But the teens were nowhere in sight.

The search has now expanded to the South Carolina coast, but officials are beginning to lose hope as the longest anyone has been know to survive in open water is five days.

[WENDLE]

I speculate they were trying to make the Bahamas. I feel sad. They should have been stopped. They were too young to have unlimited decision making.

[Robe]

Water temp is about 87*....a human in that temp will slowly have their body temp decrease to that temp....once the body's internal temp reaches about 93*...organs will start shutting down....they're fish food....in particular SHARK food

[fso301]

If it was an accident, their cardinal sin appears to have been not staying with the boat. Hard to know why even at 14 they didn’t know to do that?

[SunTzuWu]

They were too young to have unlimited decision making.

They didn't have "unlimited decision making" authority. Their parents had limited them to the water way and rivers. They weren't supposed to go outside. When you're that age though, you think you're immortal. I know I was.

[C. Edmund Wright]

saw this story on a boating forum....posted by a friend of the family. So so sad. What were a pair of 14 year olds doing going out of Jupiter Inlet, one of the most dangerous inlets on the east coast? And what were they doing 67 miles off shore in such a small boat?

Damn.

[C. Edmund Wright]

Their parents had limited them to the water way and rivers. They weren't supposed to go outside.

I'm sure that is the truth too....that inlet took the life of an experienced charter boat captain just last summer.....a pro who goes thru it a few hundred times a year.....in a 51 foot sport fish boat. No place for a couple of young teens in a small craft.

[TexasGator]

“If it was an accident, their cardinal sin appears to have been not staying with the boat. Hard to know why even at 14 they didn’t know to do that?”

If they were thrown out of the boat in a storm it may have been impossible for them to get back to the boat.

[Half Vast Conspiracy]

I read reports yesterday that they were found. There were even details about them sharing wet suit and sleeping all day and holding on tight during the stormy nights...

WTH?

[Rebelbase]

I used to do exactly what these kids did when I was 16. Gulfstream, no life jackets, no radio, no float plan but plenty of beer and bait.

I have no doubt that God was watching over me during that foolishness.

[SES1066]

I fear that these poor boys met more than their match when those seas turned ugly. When we are young, we lack the experience that tells us to turn back. Frequently the brave die young because they risk too much. In the military this is what makes them say; "Come on boys, you want to live forever?"

In Memory (I hope and pray I am wrong!)

Gloucester Fisherman's Memorial Gloucester, MA

[chimera]

That was an old story about another pair that someone posted, I guess for context.

[GilGil]

I was going to say most likely they turned into shark bait.

[Rome2000]

When they capsized the seas were incredible plus they couldn’t barely see their hands in front of their face due to the stinging rain.

The boat overturned and they probably didn’t have a chance to grab on to a slippery surface before the current took them.

Not like your on a lake and some idiot stands up on the edge of the boat and all of a sudden your in the water, but all’s calm and there isn’t a problem

They were daredevils and that was a sick storm, the temp dropped and the winds picked up like crazy, I was working on my car, sunny and calm one minute and the next all hell broke loose.

Wrong place, wrong time.

What happened to these kids is horrible, but their fate will serve as a lesson to others and will save lives in the future.

[outofsalt]

In the gulf stream current if you get even a few yards apart you may not be able to swim back. The boat and the swimmers would be affected differently.

[RegulatorCountry]

From South Carolina, the Gulf Stream goes to Cape Hatteras where it violently collides with the Labrador Current and then veers out to sea, eventually reaching County Cork, Ireland.

[GilGil]

I had a very good friend who thought he was a great sailor and was an investment banker. He decided to organize a sailing trip from France to the Bahamas. They started with 3 100 foot sailboats. The first 48 hours out from the coast of France a deadly wind called the Mistral which brings with it huge waves appeared. All three boats were engulfed and all 25 crew members on all three boats were killed and disappeared. One survived.

The sea can be treacherous.

[Vermont Lt]

14 year olds do stupid things. They were not supposed to go out to the open ocean.

It’s too bad. But they are not likely to be found on a deserted Isle with Ginger and Maryann.

[TexasGator]

“In the gulf stream current if you get even a few yards apart you may not be able to swim back. The boat and the swimmers would be affected differently.”

I keep seeing this posted but I don’t understand how the ‘current’ can be so different in only a few yards apart.

[FlJoePa]

As a 30+ year Jupiter resident, no story has touched the community like this one since maybe Rachel Hurley. It’s sad, but people shouldn’t be dumping on the parents. I know them all, and while they’re far from perfect they don’t deserve any blame here.