Nice sailing day except for 1 detail

no4j

New Member
Took my wife and my Mod 1 out on the lake (central Florida) this morning in brisk winds. Forecast was for 12-14 knots and I think it was at least that. The boat was perfect (and fast) and my wife is getting a little more at ease or at least a little less panicky in strong winds so we had a great morning of serious speed sailing. I love my Capri!

The 1 little detail that I mentioned in the title. When we arrived at the lake, the police were everywhere. Boats, cars, mobile command center, and even a helicopter. The occasion was someone was lost in the lake yesterday and they had still not found the body. That was creepy. We decided to sail anyway after much discussion. Thank goodness we didn't come across it while we were out there. The news reported they found the body about an hour after we got home.

That ever happen to you?
 
A couple weeks ago someone drowned on my lake. I took a date out on my big sailboat the next day, I didn't mention to her. We were about 1 mile away from the incident, and they had not yet found the body. I thought there was very little chance of seeing anything so I didn't mention to her. Motoring to the cove, I saw a dive boat at the location so they were still looking. The body was found the next day.

-Robert
1989 Capri 14.2
1984 Catalina 22
 
About two years ago I was pulling my Catalina 30 into her slip and found a body floating in my slip, the owner of the boat next to mine was a liveaboard and had fallen in the night before. That means the body was in or near my slip when I pulled out that morning.
 
A few more comments

This should be a warning to people to wear their life jacket (PFD as they say nowadays). Few people are lost when they are waring life jackets. My wife always wears one and reminds me if I forget. After 12 knots I think any 14 ft sailboat is a handful to say the least. At 14 knots I would certainly stash the jib and go under main only and head for home at that. I have noticed around here they forecast a bit toward the high side. I guess it isn't an exact science and they want to warn of the possible higher winds. Regarding the DB (dead body); it would have been much easier to find had he been wearing a PFD.
Glad you had fun and didn't run into any hazards to navigation.
 
I'm a dive instructor that works for a kids summer camp that runs on a live aboard sailboat based in the Windward Islands. We were in Martinique going to do a night dive. I wasn't felling well and I didn't want to get in to get the mooring ball because it was submerged, so we went to a less desirable site about 50 meters away with a ball on the surface. Another boat came and grabbed the submerged ball and went diving. About 5 minutes later they all surfaced, in about 10 min the French coast guard showed up with a dive team. Needless to say they had found a dead guy on their night dive. I can't imagine what would have happened if we would have put a boat load of 15-17 year old girls and guys on that site to find an dead guy at night!!!
 
BTW, my wife and I ALWAYS wear life PDFs. Mine is an inflatable with a CO2 cartridge and a blow tube. I wear it around my waist and I hardly even know it's there. My wife likes the security of a full jacket. That's great but it's too confining for me.
 
Inflatables: a comment

Only one observation regarding inflatables. I was racing on an Ethells 22 a few years ago and a guy was hit in the head with the boom (in another boat) and was knocked overboard. When he inflated his vest it did not inflate properly. He happened to be an airline pilot and the next weekend he gave a short talk on his experience. He said because he could have been knocked out and because the pfd did not inflate properly that he would no longer trust an inflatable type vest. Many years ago I and friends wore an inflatable (C0-2) vest while SCUBA diving. They seemed to work fine with oral inflation to control buoyancy, but every time we tried to inflate them via the C0-2 cartridge they failed due to corrosion in the mechanism. Tough environment that salt water.
 
I have two inflatable PFD's, but I got recently bought myself a low profile fishing jacket with foam pads. It gives me plenty of shoulder/neck room that others do not. I also have been concerned about a hit to the head or a fall that could knock me unconscious. The foam jackets are hot in the summer heat, so I find I am still using the inflatable PFD on the hottest days.

-Robert
 
The heat is the problem down here in Florida as well. Also, I like to sail Lasers. The boom is too low for that kind of confinement. You need to really get down out of the way when you tack or jibe. I know the inflatable is a bit of a risk but it's so darned convenient and cool.
 

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