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Random Quote: Man you should've been here yesterday
All I know is that a small outboard boat was Shrak fishing in the 400+k tourny and the boat and crew are still missing and presumed dead. Kinda makes you think especally when only 25% of the boats (tourny) went out that day. A customer whom I am building a boat for was supposed to fish it but changed his mind at the last moment.
Which raises an important issue regarding tournament promoters who fail to reschedule events when the weather is questionable. I am not sure that this was the case here but.....
quote:Originally posted by d-hlaw:
Which raises an important issue regarding tournament promoters who fail to reschedule events when the weather is questionable. I am not sure that this was the case here but.....
I'm not going to requote the discussions which are on going at the Nor'East.com board but suffice it to say that the promoters are taking heat for not canceling. They did have a rain date of Sunday which turned out to be a much nicer day.
BULL SHEEEEEETTTT!!!!! That is just FLAT OUT BS!!! The promoters have NOTHOING to do with IDIOTS taking a 25' boat into 7' (REAL 7') seas. PERIOD!!! The capt. makes the decision and ONLY the Capt.!!
So, if the Tourney people(whoever they are?) called it off, and these guys went out anyway since they were all ready to go, which I'd bet a million on they would have, then who would you blame?
Give me a break, you go out an inlet and see conditions WAY to big for you boat, YOU TURN AROUND. It's that simple.
That remeinds me of the IDIOTS who start a lawsuit for getting hurt on a black diamond ski trail. They go after the mountain for having to steep a trail. If you can't handle the black diamond, DON'T SKI IT, and if you do, your on your own!!
I was out Saturday morning when the Coast Guard was putting out an alert to look for that boat, as it was way overdue. It kind of gave me a sick feeling in my stomach.....
I agree the promoters should bear some responsibilty, though not all.
202 Scout Sportfisher, mainly fish Point Judith, Block Island, and Charlestown.
When you put on an event you take the responsibility for taking reasonable precautions to ensure the safety of the participants, period. I see this happen often where the promoters yield to the big boat owners pressure to not postpone. The increasing weather puts boats at 38 foot and above at an advantage, and in tourneys where there are a very high number of outboards who pay the same entry fee as big boats it only makes sense that the big boats want an advantage. Raise the swells and they can run farther, more comfortably and stay on the fish. If those guys wanted to recreational fish on that day it would be different, but I am sure that they yielded to pressures to go out that day.
To those who believe the tourney directors had zero responsibility....I do agree that you have to take some responsibility for your own actions and safety (I see evidence every day of this country slowly but surely developing an "it's not my fault" attitude).
That being said. Where would you draw the line when the tournament director is responsible....gale force winds....hurricane...what??
Maybe it's just me, but I don't care what the hell I paid for an entrance fee - if it's unsafe, I wouldn't go. I am not only responsible for myself, but also everyone on my boat. As the captain, I make the call, and I would do so without any thought whatsoever to what some promoter may think or tell me.
The promoter has "some" culpability for failing to cancel the tourney or yeilding to the "big" boats. Obviously it's a question of money (return of entrance fee, etc) that drove that decision. That being said, the Captain IS RESPONSIBLE for himself and his crew AT ALL TIMES, period. Comparatively speaking, the captain assumed the risk when he decided to go. A very, very sad story, especially for all the wives and children, and FOOD FOR THOUGHT for us all who venture far from shore. Makes $30 lifevests, an EPIRB and a raft look cheap by comparison.
I feel that the boat captain is responsible for the safety of his crew. I own my boat, if I say it's too rough, the boat don't go. If you blame it on promoters, and you die, you're still dead. I would take myself into worse situations than I would my crew.
Bottom line, be safe, be smart, you can always fish another day.
just had this argument this a.m. with someone. Regardless of what we each think, I now hear that it is going to be a matter for the courts to decide, the families of the victims intend to sue the event organizers. A good argument from each side..., but who left the inlet of their own accord??
I'm with the Birdguy on this. What ever happened to personal responsibility?? Newsflash....there are consequences to the personal decisions we make in life. Were the sponsors out there twisting their arms? Apparently, the vast majority (75%?) of entrants recognized it wasn't their day and stayed at the dock.
606,
There is NO LINE. I don't care if 3 Hurricanes collide, create 17 Tonadoes and at the exact same time a tidal wave is on the way to Long Island from an earthquake in Africa, you take your boat out, YOUR responsible.
There's a HUGE hole in any lawsuit filled here, they don't have ANY idea what caused the boat to sink. In fact, we don't even know for sure the boat sank, maybe they decided to hitch a ride on a freighter to the Carribean and they are all down there drinking Rum Punch in St. Thomas?? Maybe they did sink, BUT it had NOTHING to do with weather, maybe they hit something which put a hole in the hull and it sank? WHO KNOWS?
Pathjack,
You are DEAD ON!!! PERIOD! As the Capt., YOU are responsible for YOU and YOUR PASSANGERS. It's NOT the Coast Guard's responsibilty, it's NOT some fishing organization sitting in a restuarant trying to organize a fun contest, AND it's NOBODY ELSE. YOU, that is it, plain and simple. I'm so sick of the BS the attorneys in this country put out here: "there is some responisbilty to the bla bla bla..." BS!! YOU, and ONLY YOU are responsible for your own actions.
Don't leave it all at the attorneys' feet. The litigants still are still the people who bring the claims and the juries are the ones who validate the claims and award the damages.
In this case, the family was looking to blame the organizers as early as Monday. This from Newsday, June 17:
"Friends and relatives of the missing crew have already begun to blame the organizers of the tournament for allowing the race to go on under sea conditions that they said were unsafe. "They should have canceled it," said Toni Wright, the wife of Robert Wright, an employee of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, who he said has been fishing since he was a teenager. "The water was bad. . . . They should not have allowed this to happen."
Toni Wright said the group had said it would call off the annual contest, which is in its 30th year, if waves were above 5 feet. Waves were between 5 and 7 feet high off Long Island about 4 a.m. on Saturday, just before the start of the tournament, according to Coast Guard Senior Chief Peter Hocking, who is based at the Group Moriches in East Moriches. Still, Hocking said that was a general reading of the area, and that waves could be smaller or larger in different spots of the sea.
Wright, who said she is doubtful her husband will return, said two other tournaments were canceled Saturday because of the sea conditions. "They should have canceled it like everybody else did," she said, adding that her husband was looking forward to the tournament."
I side with those who say the Captain has the ultimate responsibility to decide whether to stay or go. (and yes, I am a lawyer. . .)
Blaming the organizers as early as Monday when their family members were still missing? Damn fine commentary of our society. Like Eric said, where did individual responsibility go? Nothing is anybody's fault anymore. Its someone elses.
What part of "THE CAPTAIN IS ULTIMATELY RESPONSIBLE FOR HIS BOAT AND CREW" don't they understand. [img]/infopop/emoticons/icon_mad.gif[/img]
Number one, I do not believe anyone knows what happen to that boat on that day. That being said, it is ultimately the captain of that boat that makes the decision to sail or not, but, being in a contest that has an option day to participate, which is run by an organization that specializes in just this type of fishing, with so-called Coast Guard knowledge, I might juggle my decision a little, perhaps feeling that these people in authority have better information than I.
Birdman is right if it is too rough,don't go out.Thatyou spend $350 to fish in a tourny is not worth risking your life for.I have fished this tournament several times and it always was run well and with safety in mind.You have to use good judgement any time you run the ocean and know what your boat is capable of.My heart goes out to the families of the crew.
