Thursday, May 31, 2007

Boating dangers: How safe are boaters on the waterways you visit?

Failure to wear a life vest, alcohol and inability to swim are factors in most of the 700 accidental boating deaths that occur each year in U.S. waters, according to a Gannett News Service analysis of boating accident data.

Of the 3,507 people who died in boating accidents between 2001 and 2005, about 80 percent weren’t wearing life vests, according to the GNS analysis of Coast Guard data.

Click here to check accident details for any waterway in the country by searching an interactive map.

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The above interactive map link is pretty neat...you can go state by state too....

Dwayne

Monday, May 14, 2007

Coast Guard Suspends Search for Flying Colours - Independent searchers look for missing sailors -

Coast Guard continues search for missing sailors

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Latest vigil news:

Baker City friends to hold vigil for grad missing in Atlantic

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On May 29, 2007 a person very close to the crew brought THIS story about the Flying Colours to my attention. The friends and family of the crew remain hopeful and need your help if you are on the water to continue the search for their loved ones. If you are passing through the area where this boat was lost please help the families by keeping a watchful eye and reporting any information that may assist them.

Dwayne

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The sailboat Flying Colours was reported missing in rough seas off North Carolina. Photo By: U.S. Coast Guard

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Vigil Held For Missing Sailboat Crew

This story is not about the Flying Colours but ended well for another sailor and his crew caught in the same terrible storm. This sailor thought that a oversized (he did not say rogue) wave destroyed his craft and he speculates that a same or similar wave may have taken the Flying Colours down. Sailor details terrifying ordeal of his rescue at sea The Coast Guard measured the waves at 50 feet. Dwayne --------------------------------------

Sailors’ circle holds hope This is the latest on this story. There are many survival tales from the sea. If this group or some of them got to a liferaft there remains a chance they survived this storm. Some survival books we have posted about on this blog relate stories of persons surviving for weeks and months with very little but sheer determination and a will to live. Dwayne --------------------------------------

Coast Guard Suspends Search for Flying Colours Although the Coast Guard has suspended the search the friends and families of the lost sailors of the Flying Colours are continuing on. The Coast Guard has limited resources and searched for many days. They cannot search forever. Now the search is left to fellow sailors, on the same or similar route or friends, family and those generally concerned. These sailors, by all reports were very experienced. They were apparently prepared and had some safety equipment with them. Castaways have been know to live for months at sea with very limited resources. It remains possible some or all of them are alive at sea. Any help from sailors on this course would be appreciated. 40 sailors from different areas are joining in the search. You can help by sending the families reports as you pass through the area or by sending funds. They have an email where they can be reached. Publicity and blogging will keep attention on this search and may help the families with information about their loved ones. Dwayne Clark ---------------------------------------

PORTSMOUTH, Va. - The Coast Guard suspended active searching today, pending further developments, for four sailors missing off the North Carolina coast since Monday morning: Patrick Topping, 39, Jason Franks, 34, Rhiannon Borisoff, 22, and Christine Grinavic, 25.

“Suspending a search is always a difficult step for the Coast Guard because we understand the impact that it has on the families involved,” said Rear Admiral Larry Hereth, Commander, Fifth Coast Guard District. “In the last six days, Coast Guard cutters and aircraft, along with numerous DOD aircraft searched all of the likely and even unlikely areas where the crew could be. Sadly, the threshold of survival seems negligible.”

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Danbury High grad lost at sea 34-year-old's boat missing since Monday

The friends of Jason Franks were praying for the 34-year-old sailor Saturday.

Franks, a 1991 Danbury High School graduate, was missing at sea off the coast of North Carolina. His sailboat, the "Flying Colours," had been missing since Monday , when high winds whipped the ocean as high as 40 feet.

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A C-130 airplane and a Coast Guard boat search for survivors of the sailing yacht Flying Colours.  
C-130 airplane and a Coast Guard boat search for survivors of the sailing yacht Flying Colours. U.S. COAST GUARD

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This particular storm seems to have surprised a lot of boaters. The results have been tragic. Help with this seach in any way you can. If you are a blogger or in the media keep posting stories as it may keep postitive attention on the search.

Dwayne

Two Hurt In Mother's Day Boat Accident in South Florida - Sea Tow

Two Hurt In Mother's Day Boat Accident (CBS4) MIAMI A South Florida teen remains hospitalized after a Mother's Day boating accident on the Intracoastal Waterway. Witnesses said the 24-foot boat, which was carrying four adults and three teens, was just off the 79th Street Causeway Boat Ramp at the Pelican Harbor Marina when it was hit by a boat owned by Sea Tow Services. -------------------------------------------- Dwayne

Monday, May 07, 2007

Gulf Stream

Coast Guard Hero has Died - BM2 Perrett

BM2 Perrett

A photo of an LCVP R 062029Z MAY 07FM CCGDEIGHT NEW ORLEANS LA//DRMC//TO COMDT COGARD WASHINGTON DC//RPF//COMLANTAREA COGARD PORTSMOUTH VA//CC//R 062008Z MAY 07 ZUI ASN-A08126000037FM COMCOGARD SECTOR NEW ORLEANS LA//CC//TO CCGDEIGHT NEW ORLEANS LA//DRMC//BTUNCLAS //N05360//SUBJ: DEATH OF AN HONORED CG MEMBER1. COAST GUARD SECTOR NEW ORLEANS ANNOUNCES WITH REGRET THE DEATHOF WORLD WAR II COAST GUARD VETERAN MARVIN J. PERRETT. MR. PERRETTWAS FOUND DECEASED IN HIS RESIDENCE AT METAIRIE, LOUISIANA ONSUNDAY, MAY 06, 2007. HE WAS 81. Dwayne

Boating accident leaves one dead - Cold Water - No Lifejackets

The United States Coast Guard is investigating a boating accident that left one man dead. It happened around 9:30 Sunday morning on Lake Michigan, about two miles west of Silver Beach. The Coast Guard says 65-year-old James Territo of Carlton, Michigan died in that accident. He was riding on a boat with two other fishermen from Newport, Michigan when the boat capsized....... .................................... The three people on the boat that capsized were not wearing life jackets, witnesses said. There were life jackets on the boat, though. The Coast Guard says this is an example of how important it is to wear floatation devices at all times. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Dwayne

Police find bodies of 2 ( Paul Smith's ) college students after boating accident

PAUL SMITHS, NEW YORK -- Police found the bodies of two college students who died after falling into an Adirondack lake. The body of Sean Cornell, 20, of Manchester Center, Vt., was found Sunday about noon, said college spokesman Kenneth Aaron. Divers found Lee Walker, 18, of Enosburg Falls, Vt., late Saturday afternoon. --------------------------------------- Dwayne