I did not see a post about this. Conditions were not good. Tides ripping. No life jackets. Could of been much worse. The choice to go that day was not a good one. Kudos to the other boaters and the Coast guard. Thankfully no kids on board.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: old rugged cross,

Probably better ways to divest a firearms collection. OTOH, it is California.

quote:

No life jackets.

God that pisses me off. Adults that don’t wear life jackets deserve to drown.

The boat took on water, not a helmsmanship problem. Could have been a hose or thru hull the let go, or possibly a hull side porthole. Also, it was a very tall boat, and if many persons were on the upper level, that could lean the boat over far enough to cause many problems.

Heck of a way to scatter someones ashes.

I did not see the boat other than when it was overturned.
Bottom line for me is that was not a good day to for them to be on the water. Should not have left the dock. Conditions were far from ideal for what they had planned.

Supplement to ORC’s link:

Thanks V

quote:

Originally posted by Voshterkoff:

quote:

No life jackets.

God that pisses me off. Adults that don’t wear life jackets deserve to drown.

jesus christ dude. I hope that's hyperbole.

Owner Had Taken Capsized Boat on Open Ocean to San Diego
Excerpts:
"Thatcher, who managed to survive the ordeal, described the horrific situation with her two aunts and a friend of Maria's, who are the three who remain missing. After becoming trapped inside the cabin, they were reportedly banging on windows for help as the ship took on water, but only Thatcher managed to get out through a door."

"Clifford Boisa, 79, was among the 17 survivors who were brought to GasHouse Cove Marina in the rescue effort, but he died from his injuries after arriving in "severe distress.""

quote:

Originally posted by Voshterkoff:

quote:

No life jackets.

God that pisses me off. Adults that don’t wear life jackets deserve to drown.

But carry on talking from the wrong end.

Another excerpt:
"When 20 assorted family members and friends set out Tuesday for a memorial cruise around the Bay, commemorating the death of a loved one that occurred over ten years ago, no one expected to encounter mortal danger. But after a particularly large wave struck the vessel's side when it was midway between the Marin Headlands and the San Francisco Marina, and perhaps — according to some local boat experts — because of the uneven distribution of people on the boat, the boat quickly went over and began to sink."

I don't believe helmsmanship can be ruled out either. It sounds like the owner had too much confidence in his abilities and his boat's abilities. The boat is a Marine Trader 50 built in Taiwan. It was at the low end of the trawler look-a-likes when built. Look-a-likes because these boats where not ocean going bluewater boats. They work for people wanting to travel the intercoastal water way, the Great Lakes, the Great Loop, or other areas where safe harbors are readily available.

That is a a lot of people on a boat that size. I do not know what max capacity (people and weight) on that vessel is.
Again, that body of water is dangerous. Tides, wind, waves mixed,
etc. This situation should of been averted by cancelling the trip. They were pretty luck to not all been killed.

Will be interesting to know of the cause, as the boat had already did a trip out past the Golden Gate, came back into the bay and that's when things went wrong; perhaps something happened when they spent time at Angel Island. Early reports of a pontoon boat were incorrect, while as a smallish motor boat it should've been capable of handle the conditions (at the limit of its tolerances) provided it had power and a heading. Loose power, get turned sideways in the sea state that was on the bay at the time and it makes for a bad day.

The pictures of the boat under water and only the bimini top sticking out of the water make it easy to understand why people initially said pontoon boat.

Edited to add:

I swear I wrote bimini, autocorrect changed it to bikini, and I changed it back to bimini top when I posted this. Fixing it again.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: trapper189,

The conditions were nothing, absolutely nothing that the boat would have a problem handling. Notice the portholes on the side? Most likely boat became unbalanced due to more persons on one side of the boat, and some portholes were open allowing water to rush in.

Water flows to the low side, so this would amplify the problem. Hull side portholes are very problematic.

quote:

Originally posted by trapper189:
They work for people wanting to travel the intercoastal water way, the Great Lakes, the Great Loop, or other areas where safe harbors are readily available.

This boat was based out of Stockton, which sits in the Sacramento River Delta and like the locations you mentioned, this size craft is ideally suited. In fact, a boat of that size, you're living large and probably in the biggest slip at most marinas.

quote:

Originally posted by c1steve:
The conditions were nothing, absolutely nothing that the boat would have a problem handling. Notice the portholes on the side? Most likely boat became unbalanced due to more persons on one side of the boat, and some portholes were open allowing water to rush in.

Given the number of seniors onboard, I'd wager that a few of them were tired and/or seasick (a long day out on the Bay) and went below to relax, someone opened 1-2 portholes to 'let some fresh air in' and they either didn't notice the water pouring in or forgot about it. Considering a few were found 'trapped below' as rescuers had trouble punching-out the window glass, this may be the starting point of an investigation.

quote:

Adults that don’t wear life jackets deserve to drown.

Almost no adults are wearing life jackets on the water in normal conditions. However they surely should pay attention to the instructions of where they are, and the moment shit goes sideways grab one for themselves and their family. Don't wait for someone to tell you to, they are trying to brave it out and recover the situation.

You see this all the time in boats that are clearly in distress.

Now, adults that don't put a life jacket on a kid who isn't a strong swimmer, that's a different issue. Saw a brief video of our granddaughter riding a little boat across some waterway in Orlando like that, still gives me the heebs. "It wasn't that far or deep."

Again, if stuff starts going wrong, you may not have time to reconsider that option and most folks will fail at keeping themselves and a child above water for more than a very short time.

The cops in the counties around me with waterfront including Destin and Pensacola beach will roll up on you and inspect your boat and cite you hard for not enough life jackets for everyone on the boat, lack of signal equipment. Etc.

Horrible preventable tragedy.

Reminds me of the Duck that sank on Tablerock Lake in Missouri a few years ago - what a shame...