Safety at sea

[TUG-A-LUG]

A sad note: On our return trip to Wickford Marina at the close of the NorthEast Ranger Tugs Rendezvous on Sunday 8/19, a report came over the radio of a sinking boat off the North shore of Fishers Island. Nine people and a dog were in the water and one person was missing. This is a shoal filled area in the Eastern end of Long Island Sound, well marked, but none the less, an area that requires attention on a busy Sunday afternoon. We had just passed through that section a couple hours before the radio call. A subsequent news report explained that the 50' cruiser hit a submerged rock and sank within ten minutes. We have further learned that the missing person was a friend from a nearby town. Divers recovered her body Monday morning. As the boat was sinking, she reentered the cabin to retrieve an item and did not make it back out. This is a very sad occurrence, and it should be a reminder to all of the necessity of safety. Kit and Ginny

 

[Lone Star Ranger]

Kit & Ginny,

Our condolences for the loss of your friend.

 

[baz]

Man... that was so sad and alarming to read....

 

[knotflying]

Sorry to hear about your loss Kit. I kept hearing a report by the Coast Guard on Monday about an unnamed dingy spotted in that area. I wonder if it was from the same boat. We can never be too careful when enjoying life on the water.

 

[Levitation]

Losses like this make me wonder... What was so valuable that it was worth her life to attempt to retrieve... My sense is that our coddled, 24 hour TV, safe world has created a population with no active fear - that nothing is a real threat, that everything will be made right in 30 minutes or 60 minutes, that safety is just a 911 call away... Seeing death and destruction night after night on the CSI type shows seems to have desensitized people to the point that they do not have an appropriate fear response...

Fear keeps us alive... 1,000,000 years ago fear made us hide in the shadows, barely breathing, when we had a glimpse of the night stalking leopard and we stayed alive... Fear (which we now call prudence) makes us check the weather, have the floating cushions out in the cockpit when underway, and a thousand other details... Fear is a necessary mechanism so that we make good decisions... Going below in a sinking vessel is not a good decision...