No, they left the inlet 3 hours before the storm was there. There is a cross current in the inlet...there's water pushing out, but there's also water pushing in. Sometimes you can actually see swirls in the water like a toilet flushing.
Then...there's a break just outside the inlet that creates waves, and the current pushes from the south side of the inlet around to the northern side. There is a huge erosion problem on the south side of the inlet because of that current.
They went out voluntarily. The police dept has video of them leaving the inlet under full power.
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
To anybody that is familiar with Florida off shore fishing there are a few questions I have been wondering about if anybody knows.
1-How fast does the Gulf Stream current actually move?
Is it like 5 MPH, 10MPH ?
2-What are "shoals" ?
3-What are "breaks" and why do they occur?
4-Are "inlets" kind of dangerous to get out past them to get in the deep water? I always wondered how they get past breaking waves that we see on a beach and wondering how boats can get past them from the Intracoastal out to the deep water without having to go through breaking waves like we see on a beach?
Also just want to add that I can understand the Coast Guard needing to call off the search by now. I started to think about what it would take to free float with just a life jacket on and I realized that you have to constantly do some treading of the water to keep your head up and keep from gulping down sea water.
Whenever the waves would get even a little rough it would mean that you would be bobbing around and unless you do some treading, you would probably constantly be dunked every now and then. Especially if the waves got rough again.
Even on the calmest of seas I dont think you can just hang there without expending a little effort with your arms and legs.
So started to realize that after a few days of that exhaustion would take over and you could not physically be able to take it. You would likely give up and begin to get dunked under and have a few bad swallows of salt water and after a few of those it would basically be the end. Sorry to be so graphic but starting to realize that the Coast Guard is right with their estimates of how long someone can handle it free floating with a life vest.