[seaslug44]

I am really upset now. I was on the phone with George today and he was kind enough to play the tape of the mayday call from the Eleni. George is absolutely right, the name of the boat WAS stated in the mayday call!!

This is bad, REALLY, REALLY bad for the coast guard. How could they not have taken the extra steps that morning to enhance the transmission and determine the name of the boat that the crew member stated???

Hearing the tape, it was clear that this was absolutely not a false alarm or a prank call. The terror in the broadcaster's voice was so intense that there is no doubt that it was a real emergency. Having heard the tape, I firmly believe that a full investigation should be made into the Coast Guards actions on Saturday morning. The investigation should include a complete review of the CG's procedures and how they could be improved to better address these types of emergencies.

Forget about all of the tough "judgement calls" of the HA and the Eleni's captain that everyone has been questioning. The real part about this tragedy that everyone should be questioning is the Coast Guard's initial response to the mayday, and how they did not take enough critical steps to determine the name of the vessel as it was stated in the mayday call.

George and I know of at least one captain who witnessed the time that the Eleni broke the inlet and the boat's approximate speed and compass heading. If that captain, the tournament committee and others knew that the Eleni put in a mayday call, the CG would have had more precise info on where to start the search.

Computer enhancement of audio is not rocket science. Anyone with a windows-based computer can run the software to clean up a radio transmission, slow it down, amplify it, etc... In the critical moments following a distress call, these steps should be part of the CG's PRIORITY.

Am I pointing my finger at the Coast Gaurd??

YES! -Because we deserve answers and explanations!!!

Am I blaming them for the deaths of four of our fellow fisherman? -WAIT AND SEE WHAT AN INVESTIGATION TURNS UP!

 

[B.Attitude]

DoctorFish

Its true,hearing the voices of them deperately trying to make contact for a last chance would piss me off too,however THAT TOURNAMENT SHOULD OF BEEN POSTPONED UNTIL SUNDAY. I keep asking and I'm getting NO ANSWERES.
WHAT IS THAT RAIN DATE FOR????

 

[flywhaler]

i haven't heard the details of the distress call. not sure i'd want too...too morbid? i am curious though, how many calls did they make? did they give their position?

 

[616477]

Accountability...

I agree with BAtt. Why wasn't the raindate used?
As for CG and HA demonstrating prudent judgement and response quality...another question mark on both fronts.
Curious to see what full investigation will uncover.
Still very sad event

 

[620574]

DoctorFish? Lets not point all the blame!

Okay, let me first state that I feel terrible about the situation and it's easier for me since I not involved at all.

I agree with the other post. Did the boat give a position in the mayday call? And, didn't the coast guard dispatch a Falcon to recon the area on Sat morning? If they didn't have any location how on earth do you expect the Coast Guard to find them??? We have all spent time on the water and we now how daunting the size of immediate fishing grounds are (especially in rough weather). So I deeply and strongly believe the Coast Guard would and always does as much as humanly possible to save a boat and human life.

As to the fact of blaming the Hudson Anglers Tournament, get real. While I agree they should have canceled the date and rescheduled, they are not the only ones at fault. The final decision is with the Captain. God rest their sole, but he made the decision to keep steaming out and unfortunately Mother Nature got the better of them. Bottom line, in a 25-foot boat they had no business being out in that kind of weather.

And finally, to another post I read from a Captain of a 32' Luhrs, BULL ****. You made the right call. I wouldn't even tolerate my crew trying to tell me to keep steaming when the conditions are bad. You know your boat, you know your capabilities and finally at the end of the day, you are in charge and you have everything on the line not them. So, good for you. Tell them to go out and spend 100K plus for the boat and then all the incidentals…then they can make the decisions.

 

[seaslug44]

Let's keep the subject of this thread about the Coast Guard and the Mayday call

Alan & JibbaJabba,

I agree that the "rain date" debate is a hot topic, but let's keep that on the other thread started by Togmaster that asks for your opinion on the decision to hold the tournament. I'd like to develop this topic and keep it centered around what went wrong with the initial investigation of the mayday call by the Coast Guard.

Some unanswered questions include;

Why didn't they immediately clean the audio with a computer??

Knowing that there was a tournament, why didn't they contact the committee immediately?

Knowing that there was a horrible cry for help, why didn't they broadcast the little info they had on channel 16 during the course of the day?

Why are there so many holes in and changes in the CG's story? (Such as the time of the mayday call, which CG station actually sent out the initial search boat, etc...)

What is the procedure for closing such obvious distress calls and does it need to be reviewed?

Who is actually monitoring channel 16 and making the initial determination as to the validity and intensity of the emergencies reported and how old/experienced are they? (is it a bunch of cadets fresh from the academy???)

Why hasn't the public or the media been given the oportunity to hear the audio and make pass their own decisions???

These are some of the questions I'd like to address in this conversation.

Honestly guys, after hearing that audio, there is no doubt in my mind that many intelligent people would come to the logical and calculated conclusion that the CG left these fellow anglers floating in the ocean only to drown an hour or two later.

I have great respect for our CG so I'm not stating that this is how I feel, just that I have no doubts that there are many who will come to this conclusion after hearing the horrible cries for help. I doubt it very much if I will be able to sleep tonight.

Why someone is in the ocean on a day with bad seas has nothing to do with why they were not rescued immediately and why none of the hundreds of other boats in the area were not given the opportunity to help rescue them.

 

[KNOTME]

It's not only the duty of the Coast Guard to respond to distress calls. It's also the duty of ANY and ALL vessels that hear the distress call.
Nobody else heard the name of the boat during the mayday call?
I think a whole lot more could have been done on everyone's part not just the Coast Guard.

 

[seaslug44]

Mayday call dialogue

flywhaler,

Here is a reprint of the dialogue...

"MAYDAY MAYDAY this is the Eleni. MAYDAY Over!" Then the CG hailed them back and after a 10-15 second delay: "MAYDAY MAYDAY MAYDAY this is the Eleni. MAYDAY Over!" Then the CG hailed them back and after a 5-10 second delay you hear "we're going in" That was it. The entire call lasted 52-seconds.

According to the USCG." Get those out of out of here" could be heard in the background.

Strange, the CG claimed to George that they could not hear the boat's name initially. But somehow they were able to hear the quote from the other person in the background.

The voice of the mayday spoke rapidly, on the top of his lungs, and gave the impression like there was an immediate life-threatening danger. He sounded very nervous, like he was rushing to get the words out of his mouth. There was a ton of background noise in the uncleansed version.

In my opinion, the boat did not role, but rather it was swamped. Those of you familiar with the Wellcraft 250 Sportsman and Coastal models know that they have a deep cuddy that is a big step down. They also had a poor scupper system that often needed to be plugged when the boat was loaded with gear or a large shark. The transom is a notchback, with nothing more than a wood fold-down door. From the photos of the Eleni, one can see that she was maxed-out with horsepower (twin 150's)and appeared to have an after-market hard-top. Add a full day of gear, bait and chum and she was riding very heavy and low to the water that day. A ****pit full of water or a flooded cuddy cabin may have been enough to slowly sink her.

 

[614309]

If the boat name was so distinguishable in the transimissions, why is it that no one said "hey that's so and so's boat?"
Wasn't the tournament staff monitoring the radio? Again, if the name was clear, _they_ could have checked the tournament list. Stop blaming the coasties. Their lives are put at risk in situations like this for no good reason because people go out to play in dangerous conditions.

My deepest sympathies go out to the families of the lost.

 

[SummerBrz]

Distress call

I was just reviewing the USCG web site trying to find some kind of information on how and when to make a distress call. I did not find any.

I think that if we all asked our self what we would say when making a distress call we would probally scratch our heads for a few seconds. When you are in trouble seconds matter and they do feel like minutes. I made a distress call for a boat that took on water and overturned in a matter of 10 seconds in Jamaica bay a few years ago and fumbled through the whole call. Everything turned out ok but it did take a couple of minutes to get all the informtion that was requested by the CG.

What I am getting at is what kind of information should we have ready to transmit in case there is no time to wait for a responce. And is there someone to monitor these calls at all times. I would hate to make a distress call when someone gets up for a cup of coffee. If anyone has this info please post.

I cannot put total blame towards anybody, This is one of those situations that everything that could have gone wrong, went wrong.

 

[MakoMike]

I must have missed it in the torrent in the other thread, what was the coast guard's reponse? Did they send a boat or a plane? With tournaments in Montauk and Freeport that weekend a call to both to check if the boat was entered would have been appropriate though not S.O.P. OTOH-the guys in the radio shack may not have even known that there were touraments scheduled. I agree that an investigation is called for but remain skeptical that the C.G. did anything outside their S.O.P. But having said that maybe their S.O.P. needs to be changed. Boy there sure is enough blame to go around in this tragedy.

 

[MakoMike]

Summerbrz,
A by the book mayday goes like this;
"Mayday mayday ,mayday, this is white duck, white duck, white duck, my postion
is 72.42 43.50 72.42 43.50 72.42 43.50"
pause for 30 seconds and repeat until answered.
Didn't you guys ever take a boating course?

 

[614349]

EPIRB

With all the talk about how the May-Day was unclear, would an EPIRB have made a differance? Thay have EPIRBs that are cheap compared to all the other gear we use for fishing. Does anyone know if theclass B EPIRBs in the $200-$300 range are any good? After this I am thinking about picking one up.

 

[Scalawag]

ha ha ha ha Mako Mike is right on...............

Not that I dont think the Coast Gaurd shouldnt have responded, considering there was a big buck shark tournment going on with seas that werent suitable for smaller boats, 2 & 2 shouldve been put together.
The thing is I also wondered why the first transmission didnt include location even if he couldnt give #'s he couldve given an approx. location { 20 out JI, whatever} .
What I think happened and is the most likely sceanero is now that I just read the 25 Wellcraft has a notched transon is they took a wave over the transom then it capsized.
The # 1 way people get killed out there is from taking water over a notched transom and shorting the batts. left with no power to use a VHF then flipping.
This is a reason why a waterproof handheld will also save your life as a backup.
Notch transoms are no good for those seas, really poor judgement.

 

[621539]

Epirb

I was fishing that day and I heard the transmission. I also listened to the recording today. What I heard that day and what I heard today via a recording were identical.

I posted all the info on the other thread about Epirbs.

I was within 5 miles of those guys but they never got back with a location.

The best Epirb is the 406 because it has a built in gps.

Check out the site I posted on the other thread!

 

[Cormorant]

If the CG were to try to contact the tourney committee, they would also have to contact the hundreds of other marinas that could put a boat in range of the station(s) that received the distress. That's a lot of coastline - NY and NJ. And even if they asked each about vessels named Eleni (or sounds like Eleni), I'll bet there would be many affirmatives resulting in many search options. Remember, this search went as far south as AC. Yes, it's the Captains responsibility to make decisions and it's also the captains responsibility to learn ALL safety procedures including proper mayday calls. That goes for securi-tay and pan. It is all of our responsibility to help out where we can by monitoring the situation until we are satisfied that all mayday information is broadcast and assistance is being made. And if you made the call to abort a trip, but your neighbor is going out in even good seas, how about offering up any safety gear you can?

 

[Hipshot]

GOOD BLESS ANYONE WHO IS MISSING-I FEEL FOR THESE GUYS AND THEIR FAMILIES!
THEY SHOULDA, WOODHA, COULDA BUT THEY DIDN'T! AGAIN-LETS NOT TRY TO SHIFT THE BLAME! I think in this case we are ALL to blame! Lets gather the facts, then decide what should have been done! Stop pointing fingers when NO ONE IS RIGHT! Maybe the tournament should have been postponed, MAYBE the Captain shouldn't have have gone out, Maybe the C.G. could have done a better job! MAYBE if you weren't born, you may not die! MAYBE if HA was right, MAYBE if the Capt. was right, MAYBE if the CG was right we would be shareing a beer with 4 tournament winners!
GOD BLESS US ALL-ESPECIALLY FISHERMAN!

 

[Fisherman2456]

Hudson Anglers Tournament

My name is Christine Wright, daughter of Bob Wright.

I would like to take the time to thank each and everyone of you for your thoughts,prayers and comments to the tragic events of Saturday. I have just as many questions as you do. In time, I hope to get the answers I am looking for.

If you participated in the tournament and would like to share your comments with me, PLEASE email me directly at [email protected]. I would love to hear what you have to say.

Again, thank you so much for your concerns.

 

[bennie]

Christine:

I am so sorry to know about your loss. My thoughts and prayers are with you and your family at all times.

I will be fishing this weekend and will keep a lookout posted at all times for your dad. If we see or find anything you can cout on us to report to the authorites urgently. I can assure you that all of the fisherman I know will be doing the same.

God bless you.

 

[Scalawag]

Christine, my prayers are with you and your family

Good luck with your quest for more info.