Anyone see any news about the sail boat margarita that hit the Wappoo Cut bridge? 50+ foot blow boat got crossed up on her approach and put the bow sprit straight intro the bridge fenders. Older guy on the bow tried to use his hand to fend the boat off and got the crap knocked out of him. Taken off by EMS at the landing. Was just wondering how he was? Hope he is OK. Tore the bow sprit and rigging off the bow. Hate to see a boat ride end up that way.
17’ Henry O Hornet
26’ Palmer Scott
I heard the call go out on the VHF radio. I was headed back and tried to hurry up and see if I could help. It looked like a guy with a bayliner trophy helped the injured man off the sailboat and took him to the landing. Charleston County EMS was pulling up as the man was being helped up the ramp. I hope he is OK. It looked like the guy in the bayliner did a good job at helping out with the situation.
Dorado II
Carolina Skiff 25DLV
we were going to watch boats and have a drink at the crab shack with friends and everyone was coming in from outside. One person said that the sailboat had tried to anchor up wapoo cut and was going to bring the dinghy in to the crab shack, but the anchor broke loose?
I didnt see it though, so no telling what happened.
By the way, PS - I saw your Henry O out there on the water! I figured it was you- great lookin boat!
Hey mhebbard, we were coming through the bridge from the harbor when that sail boat was lining up from the other side, current behind her and alread very close to the bridge. He came at the bridge before it opened and did a very-extremely last second u-turn to port right at the bridge just about clipping the bridge fendering with her stern. I don’t think he could have missed by more than a few feet. That got our attention and we realized that captain was out of his depth. I figured that guy either knew his boat very very well and knew exactly how long she was or he had no idea what he was doing. The bridge barricades were down traffic was stopped but the span was not open, yet.
Well, as soon at the guy gets Margarita pointed back up current (toward the Stono), the bridge span begins to open. Her stern is still only 50 yds or so from the bridge and the captain wheels hard to port again trying to spin her bow in and get through the span as it opens. He did not stand a chance. He would have had to have spun her 180 degrees within less than her length very quickly. I don’t guess he realized he was in about 5 knots of current. He needed to take his time, run up current a few hundred yards and then come back at it on a clean line. Instead, since he didn’t have enough room, the bow went straight into the bridge fendering on the Crab Shack side and the guy on the bow almost went swimming. He really got smacked good. The impact tore the bow sprit off and tore the fairly substantial bow railing completely lose. The sail boat got pinned on the bridge fenders going through the shute and their tender (the whaler), floated around behind them with the current and went through to the right side of the bridge legs effectively tying the stern of the sail boat to the bridge fendering. Stuck. And, maybe luckily so. It gave them a few minutes to collect themselves and retrieve the guy who was dangling over the side in the mangled bow railing.
You undoubtably saw it was a typical summer weekend at Wappoo Cut wit
Base Charleston does, indeed, have many assets. However there are different operations going on under one base. I was at the small boat station. There were, when I was there , at max 2 boat crews operating at any given time. Usually only one at night. We had an area of responsibility from McClellanville to Edisto. Other groups at the base are Marine Safety, ATON, Command,Port security, Various Cutters, etc whose specialties are not SAR related. With recent events wordwide changes have been made which have spread the assets thin. When I was in we responded to everything we could, but due to these changes a lot of situations such as the one with the Margarita are handled by civilian contractors unless immediate danger of loss of life is involved. I realize that the base it within eyesight of the bridge, but with limited boat crews possibly many miles offshore or upriver it is not possible to respond to every call.
So I guess what I’m saying is that the guys are doing all they can with what they have got. Until you have run SAR calls until dawn, then have to go out again, you’ll never know what those guys go through. My two cents, don’t mean to rant, just tired of reading “Coast Guard jokes and complaints” on fishing forums.
Mhebbard. If you are so enamored by the Henry O you should have kept yours. Dale and I would have been happy to put it into the “Penny Lane Shipyard” next door for a refit.
13, thanks for the education. When I asked if I needed one, it was a real question. Not snarky. And, I see your point(s). Don’t mean to be crackin’ on the CG.
Even so, my other questions still stand. Is a VHF obsolete for inshore/land and near shore situations?
17’ Henry O Hornet
26’ Palmer Scott
No I didn’t take your comment as snarky. It was actually a valid question. However it seemed too easy to answer your question in a CG joke/complaint so I just threw out some defense before the offense took to the field. As for VHF it is still a useful rescource, but I wouldn’t depend only on it with all of the communication tech we have at our disposal.
quote:
Originally posted by 13skullsWith recent events wordwide changes have been made which have spread the assets thin. When I was in we responded to everything we could, but due to these changes a lot of situations such as the one with the Margarita are handled by civilian contractors unless immediate danger of loss of life is involved.
</font id=“quote”></blockquote id=“quote”>By “recent events” are you referring to things like 9/11? Are you referring to being pulled away from SAR towards things like “homeland security”, “war on terror”, “anti-terrorism”, and that sort of thing?
Yes to all of the above.