FL FL - Austin Stephanos & Perry Cohen, both 14, Jupiter, 24 July 2015 - #1

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I don't want to give up on the boys but this is just so sad. I mention the snapchat pic earlier and if they had time to snap a pic and write a message I would hope they would have had life jackets on. I can't believe how much has been raised in the account. It has been awhile now, I wonder if they will start using the money, pay the fuel for the searchers. The fund account should of been set up at gas stations. I am happy all this time and money, and it looks like more time and money will help look for these boys. I really hope that all these people realize that in their own backyard there are people missing, and maybe support another one too.
 
A life jacket in the water will become water logged after a few days and may not even float after this period of time. I have my doubts about the boys even wearing life jackets, and if they even had extras on the boat. I was born and raised in the Jupiter area, been boating and fishing my whole life. I know from experience that most people stash the life jackets in some compartment, and sometimes they might be difficult to access in the event of a real emergency. So who knows if the boys even had enough life jackets on the boat, and if they were wearing them.

I would also guess that they had an engine issue and went to the back of the boat and removed the engine cover. They took a wave or two over the transom and filled the boat with water. It probably happened in a matter of seconds. SeaCrafts with an open transom are known to be susceptible to taking waves in bad conditions. My dad had a 20' SeaCraft when we were kids, and it capsized off Palm Beach inlet in rough seas. He admitted he should have never gone out in that boat in those conditions.

Fuel tanks have vents. So if the boat is flipped upside down, it likely lost a lot of the fuel anyway. It would be tough to judge how much fuel the boys did or did not use.

It's a shame these kids are gone and it was certainly a lot of bad decisions that led up to this event. Hopefully others will learn to be more careful and learn from these boys.
 
buzzard said:
A life jacket in the water will become water logged after a few days and may not even float after this period of time. I have my doubts about the boys even wearing life jackets, and if they even had extras on the boat. I was born and raised in the Jupiter area, been boating and fishing my whole life. I know from experience that most people stash the life jackets in some compartment, and sometimes they might be difficult to access in the event of a real emergency. So who knows if the boys even had enough life jackets on the boat, and if they were wearing them.

I would also guess that they had an engine issue and went to the back of the boat and removed the engine cover. They took a wave or two over the transom and filled the boat with water. It probably happened in a matter of seconds. SeaCrafts with an open transom are known to be susceptible to taking waves in bad conditions. My dad had a 20' SeaCraft when we were kids, and it capsized off Palm Beach inlet in rough seas. He admitted he should have never gone out in that boat in those conditions.

Fuel tanks have vents. So if the boat is flipped upside down, it likely lost a lot of the fuel anyway. It would be tough to judge how much fuel the boys did or did not use.

It's a shame these kids are gone and it was certainly a lot of bad decisions that led up to this event. Hopefully others will learn to be more careful and learn from these boys.
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ITA with your assessments & it is what many of us that have knowledge of the area have been saying all along.
Going forward, I wish this tragic incident turns into a teachable moment. I hope the family deals through their grief via the help of close, truthful, friends & family. I hope they shut down the SM & the .
ASAP
 
I will share some facts as gently as I can with no ill-will intended: this info is specifically for those WS members who don't live near an ocean, nor boat or sail out in the ocean so you can get a better understanding of what's what (IMO).

I have a 42' Bertram and a charter fishing business. I also have my captain's license. I charter out from the NJ Shore (Manasquan Inlet to be exact) and go out 100 miles to what is called The Canyon. That is where the gulf stream is in our area (not just 3 miles out like it is in Jupiter). When you reach the gulf stream or the continental shelf, the depth of water 'can be' miles deep. It is another world. You cannot see land. You usually don't see any other boaters. (But it is in my opinion, the most beautiful place in the world...peaceful, dolphins, whales, crystal clear water, stars). There is usually nothing to hook up to; anchors cannot reach the bottom. So we drift. It takes my vessel with powerful twin Manns engines six to eight hours to go 100 miles in perfect seas at full speed.

Four miles out from the NJ shore is something called The Mud Hole. Even at four miles out, you cannot see land. It's a different world. The seas can kick up in the blink of an eye; I broke my leg while motoring out to the Mud Hole because a rogue wave hit us and threw me down from the bridge. It took us two hours just to get back to land at only four miles offshore.

One of my points is this: one does NOT tow a 19' boat that is 60+ nautical miles offshore. It would take hours and hours and cost a fortune. It is probably also no longer seaworthy.

Second. I have an 18 year old son. We did live on the water (until Superstorm Sandy washed it away). My son would never venture outside the Shrewbury and Navesink Rivers. Ever. He has a 19' very old SeaRay. It is equipped with every safety device we can afford. It is over-equpped with safety devices. Yes, he too was on a boat while in diapers, but he would never ever venture out into the wild, vicious, unpredictable, unforgiving ocean. I simply cannot express in words how dangerous the ocean can be, especially out in the Gulf Stream. There are currents, waves, swells, high winds, white caps.

The families of these children are very blessed to have the financial resources to continue their search. I wish Lonzie and Crystal Rogers' five children had those type of resources.

However, no amount of money can buy the most important things in life. I would love to see the families become advocates for boat safety and safety devices in honor of their children.
 
ATasteOfHoney said:
ITA with your assessments & it is what many of us that have knowledge of the area have been saying all along.
Going forward, I wish this tragic incident turns into a teachable moment. I hope the family deals through their grief via the help of close, truthful, friends & family. I hope they shut down the SM & the .
ASAP
Click to expand...

I am soooo with you ATaste of Honey! I hadn't even read your post when I wrote mine (very similar to what you said). BTW, I've been following your posts about your brother who is a professional charter fisherman on a 72' Bertram. Holy Moly! That's huge. Our Manasquan Inlet in NJ is much like your Jupiter Inlet in Florida. Once you start the approach, there is no turning back. You are committed or your thrown against the rocks --- currents going every which way.
 
Koa said:
I'm not sure if you're speaking about people in general or about people posting on this thread
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People in general, not specific to this thread. There are lots of discussions about this tragedy all over the Interwebs.
 
Gut Instinct, I grew up spending every summer on Long Beach Island...Beach Haven to be exact. My parents were originally from Nova Scotia (one of the Canadian Maritime Provinces) and my Dad was an avid fisherman. His pride and joy was his Boston Whaler and his lifelong friends were other men who loved to fish and owned boats, small and large. This tragedy has revived many memories for me.

My Dad drummed into us constantly that we must have "respect for the sea." Though he fished on friends' boats on the ocean side of the island, we never left Barnegat Bay in his boat. Even then, my sisters and I never set foot in that boat without our life jackets on and secure.

He may have seemed over cautious to some but he had stories of growing up among people whose livelihoods took them out on the ocean with none of the advances we have today. They had love of the ocean, which essentially fed their families...but they also had a healthy "fear." He would shake his head over the tourists that would come down to LBI in the summer, rent a small boat, fill a cooler with beer and head out around the island into the Atlantic. Every summer, there would be a few that ran into very serious trouble and sadly, there would be some over the years...that never came back. My Father would shake his head and remind us...you have to respect the sea.

Th ocean is not Disneyland, a fake controlled environment where thrills and entertainment are regulated and inspected for our safety. Maybe, today, parents shy away from telling the sad, harrowing or even tragic stories of the sea. Maybe they prefer not to frighten their children. If so, I think they do them a disservice. The grace and beauty of the Salt Life has to be balanced by the gravity of possible consequences.

The image of these boys heading out of the inlet while the bigger boats headed in ahead of the storm indicates to me that for all of their life long experiences in and around boats, that "respect for the sea" somehow was tragically lacking.

I hope their legacy can now be that kind of teaching moment for others.
 
I sure hope others will learn from this terrible tragedy, but then again, do people really pay much attention beyond a headline for a few days or weeks? This isn't the first time someone went out on the waters at a bad time, not fully equipped, perhaps overly confident, and not wearing life jackets and other important devices and tools, and came to a tragic end. And it won't be the last.

Same thing for murderers. They never think, "well, geez...the last 200 guys got caught and are in prison for decades or life or on death row so I better not kill that dude..." They often think, "I'm smarter, I won't get caught!" But most of the time, they do.
 
It always bothered me that Austin's dad said the ocean was his playground. Um. No. The ocean is never a playground.
 
BoggLed in Ohio said:
new update today http://cbs12.com/news/top-stories/s...ustin-stephanos-perry-cohen-28085.shtml?wap=0
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Ok, Thanks for the link. The article has also said they have closed donations after meeting their goal. Seems like they may be getting closer to an acceptance of what seems to have been inevitable.

There is a post #734 by popsicle, (thank you) that shows the conditions of the sea at the time the boys went out. After viewing this no one should have any doubt the these boys did not know what hit them. Hopefully they died quickly---I am not quit sure what their parents are expecting to find with extended searches during this break in the weather, but they are certainly deserving of expending every bit of the financial resources collected to make one last attempt at finding something that will allow them to accept their son's are no longer alive.

May God be with them in the coming months as they begin their grieving process.

Perhaps they will put their many financial connections to use in establishing a way to help this from happening to others . It is a good way to honor their boys, so they did not die in vain.

God Bless Perry and Justin
 
If I was the family the life jackets would give me hope.
And if they are the boys you would think they are together, what would the chance be of them being together unless they were tied together trying to keep from separating. What is on the land where the jackets were located.
 
Davia18 said:
If I was the family the life jackets would give me hope.
And if they are the boys you would think they are together, what would the chance be of them being together unless they were tied together trying to keep from separating. What is on the land where the jackets were located.
Click to expand...

What hope would life jackets give you?
 
"​
The land is a desolate sandbar.

This is the most comon and cheap life jacket. Thousand (im guessin) get blown off boats. These do not have whistles and lights on them: whistles and lights are better to have....
 
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