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It was an Everglades from what the report said...not sure they could hang on it those seas even if the boast is afloat. But they were in a quality boat.
What mlaco says. The weather wasn't all that bad there yesterday (see Ludicrous post) and I'm sure they planned to be back well ahead of the bad stuff. Note in that linked article, the USCG guy says seas now are running to fourteen feet in that area. Brrrr.....
Ludicrous is in the east, these guys are in the west.
My son and I got to the marina in Hudson, about 25 miles north of Clearwater at 8am saturday to work on the boat for a little early spring cleaning, gorgeous day, very calm. I can see someone saying 'what forecast, this is beautiful'. By the time we left at 12:30, it was blowing and the seas were picking up some. I sure hope they're found safe...
It's amazing how many people are so smart behind keyboards. So no one here has ever been offshore when it blew up. Give these guys a break, they went fishing and something went wrong, leave it @ that and say a prayer for them.
I 2ND that !!!! Hope these guys are found, and o.k. .....
Here's a little bit more info. 21ft boat and nasty seas. Not sure if it was small craft warnings when they launched but it is now! Nope they find them OK.
Don't know what people are thinking when they go out in weather like this. We have been receiving alerts all week about the approaching cold front and they have been forecasting severe weather and rapidly falling temps all over the news for the past 48 hours!
What is the range of a typical VHF radio? In other words, how far out can you be and still have communication via VHF?
Thanks in advance.
Chiliando
(Not newbie....good question.) It will vary a great deal. Unless a shore antenna is on a high hill or bluff (there aren't any in that part of Florida,) you can figure that day in day out about 25 miles will probably be the absolute max. It is line of sight, from the top of the transmitting antenna (to keep things simple) to the top of the receiving antenna.
For extreme examples, you can see the difference in transmitting from the top of a four foot antenna on the rail of a low CC boat or from the top of a 12 foot antenna on top of three layers of flybridge and tuna tower on a 65 foot sportfisher or the bridge of a huge cruise ship. Likewise the height of the antenna receiving. The Coast Guard will have elevated shore antennas, but again not so high when there is no natural high terrain to erect them on.
Day in day out, on the water, ship to ship, ten miles is commonly used as an average figure, but that's maybe a little conservative. All my examples here assume a 25 watt fixed mount VHF, not a five or six watt handheld. Atmospheric conditions can also have an effect, though not as much as with longer wave radio.
I just launched from that same ramp in Clearwater yesterday morning. Probably several hours after the group had launched. I brought a friend down to sea trial a 20' Pro Line DC. We ran north in the intercoastal long enough to get to the pass to head out into the Gulf. It was 11AM. When we turned and headed west we started taking spray over the bow and over the windward side of the gunnels. It was blowing about 20 - 25 knts. Most all of the boat traffic remained inside the intercoastal, no boats our size was heading out.
Their boat was only 1 foot bigger, and I can assure you that farther out the seas were really ripping.
After reading about them this morning I tried to picture us running further out than we did and could not imagine us doing it.
God bless them..the water temp in the gulf right now is around 60-62 degrees.
I pray for their safe return....
Being NFL players I am sure they didnt have much in the way of boating skills.
And you have a yellowfin, so your jump shot must suck? WTF?
More importantly are there any updates? Sure hope this has a happy ending.
And for those commenting on the boat, sure glad it wasn't a trophy or a seafox, even a bertram now a days. We'd e listening to that shiat for weeks. Say a prayer guys, there's not much else that's gonna work.
__________________ Mark Lacovara
Update your outriggers with www.reelnfree.com
Lets all hope these guys are safe and get back to their families instead of taking cheap shots at someone you don't know anything about. At this point in the game they are in serious trouble if they are still alive so lets think positive, pray for them, and leave the baby BS comments to the Bilge.
I just launched from that same ramp in Clearwater yesterday morning. Probably several hours after the group had launched. I brought a friend down to sea trial a 20' Pro Line DC. We ran north in the intercoastal long enough to get to the pass to head out into the Gulf. It was 11AM. When we turned and headed west we started taking spray over the bow and over the windward side of the gunnels. It was blowing about 20 - 25 knts. Most all of the boat traffic remained inside the intercoastal, no boats our size was heading out.
Their boat was only 1 foot bigger, and I can assure you that farther out the seas were really ripping.
We ran out of New Port Richey yesterday at noon. Steady winds like you said, 20-25, headed South to Anclote in a head sea so a smooth enough run. Headed back at 4 p.m. was a different story -- following sea running north, wind was gusting harder, and a very sloppy, 3-4. It was the only time we've ever taken much spray over the windward side of the gunnels. I can't imagine how rough it got another 45 miles off by that time of day -- especially in an Everglades with low gunnels and 4 big guys.
They need a miracle at this point... Hope they get it.
__________________ If life gives you limes, make margaritas...
Give these guys a break, they went fishing and something went wrong, leave it @ that and say a prayer for them.
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