FL FL - Austin Stephanos & Perry Cohen, both 14, Jupiter, 24 July 2015 - #1

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Forgive me if this has already been discussed:

The boat was capsized with the motor cover, 2 life vests and the cooler missing, right?? So does it not seem really strange that NOTHING has been found other than the boat. No clothing, remnants of life preservers, cooler ? the motor head could have taken on water and dropped to the bottom as well as the cooler, but not a shred of anything else from the boat ? Even if the boys did not get their life jackets on in time ....they float---wouldn't at least one of the vests have been found after a week on the ocean??

....and if they did get the vests on, no matter what their outcome, would they still not have them on their bodies. SOMETNING from their boat should have been found by now--don't you think??

I don't know... the ocean is so very vast, and those objects so very small... I don't find it odd that nothings been found.

Sent from my KFJWI using Tapatalk
 
IIrc the gulf stream turns east at some point and goes over to England? Is that correct? How long would it take for an item to be washed up the coast there?
 
Forgive me if this has already been discussed:

The boat was capsized with the motor cover, 2 life vests and the cooler missing, right?? So does it not seem really strange that NOTHING has been found other than the boat. No clothing, remnants of life preservers, cooler ? the motor head could have taken on water and dropped to the bottom as well as the cooler, but not a shred of anything else from the boat ? Even if the boys did not get their life jackets on in time ....they float---wouldn't at least one of the vests have been found after a week on the ocean??

....and if they did get the vests on, no matter what their outcome, would they still not have them on their bodies. SOMETNING from their boat should have been found by now--don't you think??

I don't think it is strange at all. As someone who navigates waters nearshore and offshore, I can tell you the ocean...even if you just took 5 miles off of a coast and ran 30 miles in either direction...is an insanely large area that is very dynamic. In the Gulf Stream, you can shut your motor off and travel 15-20 miles in a couple hours easily. Finding something is just incredibly difficult. I could be 100 yards from a floating lifejacket and not notice it unless I were to pass right by it...less odds of that if someone isn't particularly looking for it.

To add, the lifejacket could have got caught in the numerous weedlines that form in the Atlantic...it would discolor pretty quickly and almost camouflage itself- again, constantly moving.

In regards to keeping the lifejacket on, I remember the group of Tampa Bay Buccaneer players that went missing off the west coast of Florida. The survivor stated that one of them had a lifejacket on and floating...but eventually, "gave in" to death and unhooked it. Hard thing to understand, but (again) the ocean can be a beast and I can't imagine the games it could play with your mind while out there dark and alone with little hope.
 
It's interesting that neither of these grown men are wearing life jackets.....

Honestly, I don't think I have ever seen an adult wearing a lifejacket while on a boat. I don't wear one myself. However, they are quickly and easily accessible for everyone on the boat to grab. Very few situations will arise that require "immediate" access to a lifejacket. I can understand the frustration, but I wanted to clarify this as I've seen many people mention or ask about the PFD topic.
 
Honestly, I don't think I have ever seen an adult wearing a lifejacket while on a boat. I don't wear one myself. However, they are quickly and easily accessible for everyone on the boat to grab. Very few situations will arise that require "immediate" access to a lifejacket. I can understand the frustration, but I wanted to clarify this as I've seen many people mention or ask about the PFD topic.

Great honest post on PFD. Thank you.
 
Honestly, I don't think I have ever seen an adult wearing a lifejacket while on a boat. I don't wear one myself. However, they are quickly and easily accessible for everyone on the boat to grab. Very few situations will arise that require "immediate" access to a lifejacket. I can understand the frustration, but I wanted to clarify this as I've seen many people mention or ask about the PFD topic.

We are OCD about life jackets on boats. We have the fanny pack automatic deploy ones but the old school with a light and whistle are better (but bulkier)

The fanny pack ones won't keep your head above water if unconscious.
 
I don't think it is strange at all. As someone who navigates waters nearshore and offshore, I can tell you the ocean...even if you just took 5 miles off of a coast and ran 30 miles in either direction...is an insanely large area that is very dynamic. In the Gulf Stream, you can shut your motor off and travel 15-20 miles in a couple hours easily. Finding something is just incredibly difficult. I could be 100 yards from a floating lifejacket and not notice it unless I were to pass right by it...less odds of that if someone isn't particularly looking for it.

To add, the lifejacket could have got caught in the numerous weedlines that form in the Atlantic...it would discolor pretty quickly and almost camouflage itself- again, constantly moving.

In regards to keeping the lifejacket on, I remember the group of Tampa Bay Buccaneer players that went missing off the west coast of Florida. The survivor stated that one of them had a lifejacket on and floating...but eventually, "gave in" to death and unhooked it. Hard thing to understand, but (again) the ocean can be a beast and I can't imagine the games it could play with your mind while out there dark and alone with little hope.

He developed hypothermia and it made him delirious. He thought he was walking home IIRC
 
I am not an expert, but the boat in the video looks larger then our old 21' boat and somewhat smaller then our current 30'. I would guess it is a 25' - so quite a bit bigger then the boys' 19' boat.

The boat in the video is an Edgewater 318cc, which is 31 feet in length. It is considered a top of the line offshore fishing boat. The boat Austin and Perry were in was half the length and not anywhere close to the seaworthy capability of the EW-318 in the video.

http://www.ewboats.com/boat-models/center-consoles/318cc
 
OT: Why do I get a warning page from the app when I try to visit a YouTube link? This never used to happen.
 
This is a video of the ocean conditions off of Jupiter Inlet on the day and time the boys left. This is a Twitter account, but if is the official Twitter for WPTV channel 5 news. @JayCashmere is a local West Palm news anchor/reporter.

https://mobile.twitter.com/WPTV/status/626117210298318848/video/1

*I know there was a question on here earlier about when the boys left. Although they may have gotten gas between 10 and 11 AM, they were observed heading out of Jupiter Inlet as the storm was approaching between 1:30 and 2. A commercial fisherman that was coming in as the boys were leaving said he was having difficulty controlling his much larger boat.

I couldn't find the video at that link. I'm curious to see what the water was like on that day.
 
OT: Why do I get a warning page from the app when I try to visit a YouTube link? This never used to happen.
I thought it was just something on my phone, but it's been happening to me, too. Earlier today, I was on a desktop and had no trouble viewing links. Are you in Tapatalk? Maybe it's related to that?
 
[video=twitter;626117210298318848]https://twitter.com/WPTV/status/626117210298318848[/video]

Thanks for posting the video popsicle. I'm not a boat captain or expert by any means, but I have been boating in lakes, bayous, rivers and more often offshore in deep water. The men in the video aren't wearing life jackets and unfortunately that is the norm.

My thought is the teens met with bad weather and perhaps tried to turn around and head back to shore. From the little I know, it takes a skilled person to turn a boat around in that kind of weather and timing is critical. Being broadsided by those waves can cause the boat to capsize. It would be next to impossible to swim to the boat in those conditions. Even if they were in life jackets, I think they would be battered by the waves. The only other scenario I have is they had motor trouble and were unable to steer the boat to keep from being broadsided. All jmo.

I'm sad for their families and friends. I hope they can find peace and some comfort in the coming days.
 
I haven't read all the comments here, so I apologize if this has been asked and answered already. Has anyone gone to the area they were believed to be and/or the area where the boat was found and just had a couple people go in the water in the same kind of life jackets to see which way they go and how far? I realize the weather conditions can't be duplicated but it seems like it might be worth a shot. I don't know anything about boating, though, so maybe it's impossible.
 
OH CRAP!!!!! Are you kidding???? This would be horrendous for those two boys to handle. I am so sorry for them!

Thank you for reposting this vid, I could not get it on the initial Twitter page.
 
Put the evidence of that video together with the fact that these boys have been in the water for 9 days now, and it's evident that this is a "recovery" not a rescue operation. I'm fine with the private donations and the private searching, but the pressure to force the Coast Guard to get re-involved is not "fine" with me. Every day, up and down the coast, there are lives that COULD be saved, where the Coast Guard is absolutely essential.

Any parent can understand that if it's OUR child...it's the only child in the world that matters. But the Coast Guard stayed the course and gave their all for as long as a "rescue" was realistic.

This is a terrible tragedy. Feeding false hope seems downright cruel to me. The Facebook and Twitter mentality IMO is getting bizarre.

I think the time for acceptance and private grieving has come.
 
Please tell me the parents of these two boys cannot sue the coast guards.
 
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