Local Fishing Captain throws caution to the wind and requires others to employ rescue techniques.

Sometimes the better part of valor required preplanning before action.

Commercial fishing boat on water, Brian Yurasits, Unsplash

What Happened?

A local fishing captain decided to test his swimming skills recently off the coast of Panama City, Florida. He spent four hours treading water without a lifejacket. Why and how could this happen? How did he survive this ordeal?

The United States Coast Guard was notified at 4 a.m. on Sunday by a crewmember of another fishing vessel, Fiona Leone, that the captain had fallen overboard while the fishing vessel was on autopilot 12 miles south of Panama City.

Coast Guard watchstanders sent out an urgent marine information broadcast and launched a 45-foot response boat crew, an Ocean Sentry aircrew, and the crew of a Coast Guard cutter to assist.

The captain was rescued by a good Samaritan vessel named New Beginnings. The Panama City Coast Guard boat crew convened with the New Beginnings and transferred the captain back to the Fiona Leone to safely navigate his vessel back into port.

The captain was last reported to be in good condition. Surviving for 4 hours in the water without a life jacket is a miracle. The Coast Guard urged the boating public to practice safe boating by wearing life jackets, using kill switches to turn off the boat in an emergency, and ensuring that proper communication equipment is used. https://gcaptain.com/florida-fishing-boat-captain-rescued-after-falling-overboard-without-a-lifejacket/

Could this have been avoided?

Let’s take a look at how this could potentially have been avoided.

Federal and state laws require that all vessels carry one wearable life jacket for each person on board. Life jackets must be of the appropriate size for the intended wearer. Since we were not told whether there were any life jackets on board the captain’s vessel, we cannot assume that he did not have them. We can assume though that the captain thought his swimming skills were strong enough that he did not need a life jacket. Life jackets only work well when used.

Florida has a campaign called the Wear It Florida Campaign that encourages maximum participation of recreational boaters who consistently wear a life jack on the water. It is believed that even if you feel comfortable on a boat because of experience, know how to swim, and the depth of the water is less than 4 feet you put yourself in harm’s way when not wearing a life jacket while on the water.

A statistic worth considering is that in 2020 most of the fatalities that occurred were caused by drowning, the average age of the victim was 51 years old, male, and had at least 100 hours of boating experience.

The majority of the people that drowned did not wear a life jacket and 50 percent of them were not ejected from the boat, they simply fell off. These accidents were not a drug or alcohol-related events and occurred in ponds, lakes, and rivers. We don’t know because it was not reported whether the captain had been drinking and simply fell overboard or if he was sober and something went wrong causing him to be thrown overboard. https://321boat.com/life-jackets-how-and-why-to-wear-it/#:~:text=Florida%20lawrequires%20the%20following%20with%20respect%20to%20life,in%20length%20that%20is%20underway%20upon%20Florida%20waters.

Personal Experience

I had a friend recently tell me that he and his family had rented a boat to visit one of the local attractions named Shell Island. He drove the boat from Tyndall AFB out to the island. When he got to the island, he allowed his family to get off the boat. He intended to take the boat offshore and anchor it and then swim back to the island.

When he anchored the boat, he thought he had it safely stowed. He swam to the island and then when he got there his wife met him on the beach. She asked him if the boat was anchored correctly. He responded with a “Yes Dear” and she asked him to turn around and look at the water. When he did, he discovered that the boat was drifting away from where he had anchored it. He then decided to swim back to the boat and secure it better. His swim to the boat took him much longer than he had anticipated. The boat began to move faster and faster and he did his level best to catch up to it.

He caught the boat but before he could secure it the undertow (rushing water that takes you out to sea unless you know how to swim against the current) began to drag him away from the boat. His wife saw what was happening and reported it to the authorities. My friend spent 2.5 hours in the water with no life jacket until the Coast Guard was able to respond to his location and pull him out of the water. My friend told me that he would never go on a boat again without having a life jacket on.

How smart is preplanning?

I suspect the good fishing vessel captain that was rescued off the Panama City coast may have felt the same way after his four-hour event. It is amazing how something as small as wearing a life jacket could turn a catastrophic event into a safe and enjoyable boating experience. It is equally profound that not wearing a life jacket could cause a catastrophic event to occur. For now, Florida law does not require everyone on board to wear a life jacket, only that one is available for all on board.