Throwing a line on another vessel has untold mounds of potential liability with it. With a rig this size I would imagine the shear weight might cause even a very heavy line to snap and if it does just pray nobody is in the way of them coils comming back.
The other side I've heard, is horror stories of insurance companies trying to go after the good samaritan who was trying to help. No good deed goes unpunished, so to speak. On the saving of lives and extracting people from water though, there is no room for debate. I don't think I know a single person that wouldn't do that.
I'm curious to know what let go. Shit can and does happen so quick! I'd like to know though and stow that knowledge away so I can add another inspection in my daily walk arounds...
That is a terrible experience, but thank God all on board are home safe tonight with their loved ones. While it is a tragedy to lose a boat like that, boats can be replaced, people cannot.
I talked to Larry and Patrick(mate) back at Sunset after coming home with Marli. He shook my hand and although rattled, Larry seemed pretty together when the 4 coastguard members showed up to get statements from everyone including the charter, the captain and mate. They did get breathilizers on the spot. Don't know how that went and of course the 20 page document they had to fill out with loss of the boat had to be tedious.
I can't even imagine this happening and don't even want to.
On a positive note the Marli had a great trip bringing in 2 nice wahoo, 5-6 yellowfins. So at least the charter saw some fish.
The day started out with Captain Larry stopping on the fish. Before we got lines out we had a bite and a small yellowfin in the box. Larry made a turn back on the fish and his bridge rod was selected by a larger yellowfin. Two bites two fish.
As you all can imagine the rest of the day was no less dramatic. We do not know the source of the water coming on board but, do know that it came in fast. Within minutes the lazzerette was flooded. The first order of business was to assess our situation, call for assistance and get our passengers safe. By this time the engine room had flooded above the transmissions and was too deep to keep your head above water to close the sea cocks and use the engines pump out the bilge.
A great big thanks goes out to Captain Brian, Buck, Blue and the crew of the Marli for coming to assist us. One more big thanks Captain Luke, Jason and the crew of Press Time
for being there as well.
The five customers aboard the fated Always Late remained calm and followed instruction, something that all charter captains and mates know is not always the case. Their biggest complaint was that we failed to rescue their beer.
The Coast Guard always investigates incidents at sea. The purpose of these investigations is to determine the cause in order to hopefully reduce the amount of loss at sea.
One very important lesson learned came from Matt, the rescue diver that tried to help save the boat. When the Always Late became unstable due the the large amount of water on board Matt told me to stay out of the cabin and engine room and to stay on deck. He was concerned the boat may capsize and trap me below. "It has happen before" was the statement Matt made that stuck in my head.
One more piece of advice. Six Pack boats are not required to have a life raft. Thank God my captain invested in one. So before you go out and buy another rod and reel or one of those other toys we all love, get yourself a raft, keep it inspected and make sure you are familiar with how to deploy it.
If you read the article posted and you are a die hard fisherman, the answer to the question I know you are asking is Yes. We did capture two wahoo after we were all aboard the Marli.
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