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Boating Accident News 11/13/2013

By Kristy Moore posted 11-13-2013 10:35 AM

  
 Lucky break for yacht owner rescued from sinking ship, 11/9/2013 off the coast of Queens, NY A boat owner nearly went down with his ship  Friday night after his 43-foot yacht struck a rock off the coast of Queens and sank into the East River. Police say the owner and operator of the boat had shoved off from  Atlantic City on his way home to Mamaroneck in Westchester when he hit a rock off of College Point near LaGuardia Airport. He was disoriented after the impact and initially gave the Coast Guard the wrong coordinates for his location. But the NYPD's Harbor Patrol was in the vicinity and reached him just as the boat was slipping below the surface."The boat sank before our very eyes," said Detective Jeff Haas of the Harbor Patrol. "He knows how lucky he was. Of course he was mad at himself, but a momentary indiscretion on the north shore means you hit a rock."The pilot was the only person on board, and  was treated at the scene for minor hypothermia after jumping into the 53-degree water."It's a very rocky, unforgiving environment," Haas said. "The timing was very dramatic. He only would have lasted a few minutes in the cold water at night. He didn't give the Coast Guard the right address either, he's lucky we were already in the area."
Read full story here.

Marina fire ruins boats, part of dock 11/11/2013, Saugus River, Massachusetts
Officials are investigating a fire at a marina on the Saugus River that destroyed five boats, a personal watercraft and a section of dock early Sunday morning."You normally fight fires by going into them and putting them out, but with boat fires you can't really get on there and put it out," Lynn District Fire Chief Arthur Richard said Sunday evening. "They're tough to fight; typically they are a total loss."Firefighters responded to the Stoneham Boat Center, 1147 Western Ave., at 2:56 a.m. Sunday and found four boats aflame at the end of the dock and another burning boat drifting up the Saugus River, Richard said. He said each boat was "well-involved" in flames as firefighters arrived at the scene. Richard said firefighters fought the flames from shore as it was too risky to send the firefighters out onto the dock for fear it could collapse. Firefighters extended a ladder out over a fence blocking access to the waterway and used a telescoping ladder pipe to douse the four boats burning on the dock, he said. Richard said the fifth boat apparently burned through its mooring line and drifted until it ran aground about 300 yards upriver. A burning personal watercraft also drifted to shore, he added. Firefighters used hand lines to bring water to fight the flames on those watercrafts, Richard said. Each boat, approximately 30 feet of dock and a personal watercraft were destroyed, according to Richard. He said the boats were all recreational boats approximately 20- to 30-feet long. Three of the four boats firefighters found burning at the dock eventually sank from a combination of the damage caused by the flames and the weight of the water from the hose, the district chief reported. The boat that drifted upriver, the fourth burning boat on the dock (which firefighters dragged to shore) and the personal watercraft all made it to land for their final resting place. The Coast Guard, Massachusetts Environmental Police and Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection (MassDEP) all reported to the scene Sunday morning to assess any potential environmental damage. "Most of the fuel in the boats was consumed in the fire, but there was a light sheen [of fuel] on the water in the area," DEP spokesperson Ed Coletta said Sunday. "There was nothing there out of the sheen that could be deemed recoverable, and it was left to dissipate. We don't expect to have any issues with environmental concerns from the sheen at this point." The owners of the marina could not be reached Sunday evening. Richard said no firefighters were injured in the incident. He said the arson squad will be investigating the incident, checking for security footage and if anybody was seen near the site around the time of the incident. "Anytime you get a fire at three o'clock in the morning with nobody around, it makes you wonder," Richard said. A Coast Guard spokesperson said officials monitored the scene Sunday and the incident presented no navigational hazards to other boaters.Read full story here.

Coast Guard crew answers the call (but left their socks ashore) 11/10/13, NC Coast On Nov. 10, a crew of about 100 Coast Guard men and women were at sea in the North Atlantic, towing a disabled sailboat and its crew back to safety after the sailboat lost a rudder in rough weather. The crew of the Coast Guard Cutter Forward charged out from the Chesapeake Bay the Friday before without as much as a change of clothing or even milk for their morning cereal. It was an unplanned mission, and the crew took it in stride - sharing clothing items, donating toiletries to those in need and even adding blue food coloring to white cake to brighten their meager meal. Like most emergencies at sea, the call for assistance came suddenly, and the crew of the Forward answered the call with a nearly empty ship. Two days prior, the crew departed from their homeport of Portsmouth, Va., to conduct training operations in the Chesapeake Bay with another crew from a neighboring station. Additionally, the crew had removed almost everything from the ship, including food, bedding and personal items in preparation for a trip to the Coast Guard yard the following week. The crew was prepared to sail to the shipyard for long-awaited maintenance and upgrades to the ship, which is older than many of the crewmembers who serve aboard. Once they completed their training that afternoon, the crew received word of a distressed sailboat crew approximately 180 miles off the North Carolina coast. The sailboat Wings was disabled with three people aboard after the sailboat incurred engine and rudder casualties in heavy weather. The crew of the Forward responded immediately by altering their course and headed out to sea to the last known position of Wings. Forward arrived on scene early the next morning to provide assistance. While on scene with Wings, the Forward crew learned of another distressed sailboat approximately 20 miles away. The Jammin, a 42-foot sailboat with two people aboard, had also suffered a rudder casualty in the same weather. After receiving assurance the crew of Wings was safe, and after ensuring another Coast Guard asset was en route to assist, the Forward crew diverted to respond to the second distressed sailboat. Forward arrived on scene with Jammin, rendered assistance and began to tow the sailboat back to shore. Read full story here.


#Docks #Marinas #Massachusetts #Fires #sinking #Yachts #Coast Guard #NorthCarolina #NewYork
#Boatingaccidents
#USCG
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