Like many on this site I followed the rescue mission closely and did a lot of thinking. We have a life raft, epirb, hand held radio, two mounted VHF with separate antennas, more type 1 life jackets than required, ditch bag, etc. I've been heading offshore fishing on my own boats for over twenty years. When I first started, I thought about "what-if" situations, after a year or two I got more comfortable and sort of stopped worrying and took things for granted. After this week, like many of you I have watched a few boat safety videos, will certainly inspect and perhaps upgrade our safety equipment and certainly will take a few more precautions.
I've made many mistakes on the water in the fifty years I've been on boats (I'm 52). Most of the time I've learned from these mistakes and I suppose it made me a better boater. I still leave the dock occasionally without the ditch bag to go for a quick ride in the bay, I rarely wear a life jacket, I rarely wear the lanyard connected to the key switch, etc. I plan on changing some of these bad habits immediately, especially on the two or three times a year that I go out by myself.
I have jumped off boats while underway a few times in my life (intentionally), mostly when I was a kid just screwing around and thankfully was never injured. About fifteen years ago we were cruising across the bay, heading out towards the inlet for a day of striped bass fishing on a cold overcast day in November. I was near the transom setting up the fishing gear and the boat rocked violently on a relatively calm bay. A large boat passed (I was not paying attention), the driver of our boat tried not to hit the wake head on and I was catapulted from the boat. I was wearing long johns, winter coat, etc and holding a new rod and reel at the time and did not want to let go, I also had those ugly white shrimp boots on at the time. When I was airborne, I remember screaming something. When I hit the water I remember kicking the boots off as I could not even keep my head above water. My concern was not drowning or suffering from hypothermia, it was getting hit by another boat as I was floating in the channel on a busy weekend morning. Thankfully the crew turned around within a minute and came back to me. I was sopping wet and cold, but I was fine (so was the rod and reel). We went back to the house, I showered, changed my clothes and went back out fishing for the day.
My point is that things can happen real fast with no way to anticipate. I feel that if you can keep your cool and most if not all of your safety equipment still functions, you have a pretty good chance of surviving. I can only imagine what went wrong on that trip. We can speculate all day and perhaps never get the answer.
Like others have mentioned or alluded to, I hope all Grady White boats will float regardless of age, condition, motor weight, sea conditions, etc. I for one think I'll just assume it won't float and try to be prepared for the worst case scenario.
