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Title: Couple sells everything for sailboat. It sinks on day 2
Source:
USA Today
URL Source: https://www.usatoday.com/story/news ... hing-sailboat-sinks/326152002/
Published: Feb 10, 2018
Author: staff
Post Date: 2018-02-10 20:14:44 by buckeroo
Keywords: None
Views: 2507
Comments: 26
Within two days, their dream became a nautical nightmare.
On their way to Key West, Tanner Broadwell and Nikki Walsh's voyage abruptly ended in John’s Pass off Madeira Beach, Fla., when their 28-foot sailboat struck something underwater Wednesday night.
"We hit something in about 8 or 9 feet of water and it stopped the boat completely," Broadwell told TV station WFTS.
Water flooded into the cabin, starting to sink their fantasy life. The couple grabbed social security cards, cash, IDs and their pug Remy as they called for rescue.
A ship arrived about an hour later, the Tampa Bay Times reported, but the water was too shallow for it to approach.
So the couple and Remy jumped in, leaving their dream vessel behind to capsize.
"Everything I've worked for, everything I've owned since I was a child, I brought with me. It's just floating away and there's nothing I can do," Walsh told WFTS.
Broadwell and Walsh left Colorado last year after selling off all their belongings, including a car, to buy Lagniappe for $5,000. It took a year and another $5,000 to get the boat ready to sail, Tampa Bay Times reported.
Now, it could cost thousands to remove Lagniappe from the channel.
Even with no savings and no place to live, the couple said they're not giving up on sailing again one day.
"The boat sank," Walsh told WFTS, "but our dreams didn't sink with the boat."A Colorado couple said they sold everything they owned to buy a sailboat and set out for the open seas together.
Now, with this article in publick circulation, I wager a pile of other stupid people will donate all kinds of money to these dumb slobs.
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Begin Trace Mode for Comment # 18.
#5. To: buckeroo (#0)
Sail boat 5000, assorted sailing stuff 5000. Learning how to read the depth on a chart: Priceless!
Charts and bouy placement can be incorrect. Bottoms can change with currents.
John's Pass... I wonder why it's called that.
Their website: I did like your chart though.
"They had no sailing experience. His father helped them sail along the Gulf Coast, from Alabama to Panama City. That’s how the couple learned how to sail. They reached Tarpon Springs in May. They docked at Mar Marina, where Broadwell got a job. They worked on the hull, rewired the boat and got it ready for their journey. "We met a bunch of good people," he said. "Everybody gave us a nice farewell off the docks." They set sail Tuesday, anchoring off Anclote Key. The next day they passed by Clearwater Beach and made their way to John’s Pass to dock for the night. Then it all went wrong. • • • It was about 8:45 p.m. when they sailed into a new port, navigating a channel they had never sailed before, in the dark, fog rolling in. Broadwell steered while Walsh stood at the bow, lighting their path with a spotlight, trying to figure out the navigational buoys. But the red and green buoys seemed out of place, they said, and the shoal wasn’t where their 2016-17 navigational charts said it should be. Had Hurricane Irma altered the channel? Then it happened: The Lagniappe struck something underwater. Walsh almost flew off the deck." ======================= New to sailing. Trying to run that tricky channel in the fog. At night. Going too fast. Oops. That other article made it sound so dramatic like they were out to sea and a ship came to rescue them. They were in sight of the shoreline when they ran into a sand bar. Why didn't they call the Coast Guard? Have a little Colorado herbage on board perhaps? And no life boat or even a dingy? Bad judgement from start to finish.
The same could be said for passengers on the Titanic or Lusitania. LOL Same result. The ocean is a real bitch.
Not the ocean's bitchiness that was the problem in this case - but it's beachiness. This photo tells the tale: The boat on the left is in the correct position in the channel relative to buoy "5". Per the chart, the capsized sail boat is in 3ft of water. That's about a foot and a half less than the 4.5 or so foot draft of the sailboat. Ooops! Buoy "5" is probably what Mrs. Gilligan was looking for with the spot light. Bad judgement to go poking around in the dark/fog with all those shoals clearly on the chart. Shouldn't have proceeded with out a clear visual on the guide buoys.
I was thinking that maybe a 100 or so buck fish/depth electronic finder could have been considered in the refurbishment of the "yacht." I guess the budget was too tight.
#19. To: buckeroo (#18)
Yep. A little bit of reading makes it obvious that coast is notorious for having shoals on the harbor entrances. Would've been a good investment.
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#6. To: VxH (#5)
(Edited)
Learning how to read the depth on a chart: Priceless!
#9. To: rlk (#6)
"voyage abruptly ended in John’s Pass"
#11. To: VxH (#9)
(Edited)
John's Pass...I wonder why it's called that.
The “Pass”, as locals refer to it, was created by a hurricane on September 27, 1848. A pirate, John Levique, made the first passage through the newly created pass. Hence the name, Johns Pass.
#12. To: Tooconservative (#11)
(Edited)
http://www.tampabay.com/news/Sunken-dreams- Everything-they-own-is-at-the- bottom-of-John-s- Pass_165308644http://www.tampabay.com/news/Sunken-dreams- Everything-they- own-is-at-the-bottom-of-John-s-Pass_165308644
#14. To: VxH (#12)
"We met a bunch of good people," he said. "Everybody gave us a nice farewell off the docks."
#17. To: Tooconservative (#14)
(Edited)
The ocean is a real bitch.
#18. To: VxH (#17)
Replies to Comment # 18. I was thinking that maybe a 100 or so buck fish/depth electronic finder could have been considered in the refurbishment of the "yacht." I guess the budget was too tight.
End Trace Mode for Comment # 18.
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