Sometimes no matter what you do, a day on the water doesn’t turn out the way you planned. The attached video is footage of an incident that occurred November 9, 2010 on the ICW in St. Petersburg Beach, Florida.
Capt. Clayton Tieman of TowBoatUS Tampa Bay arrived on the scene of a large sportfish engulfed in flames, and took these nine short video clips:
In the fifth video of the series you can hear ammunition that was stored aboard the vessel igniting.
Tieman’s arrival was less than five minutes after the time of the mayday call, yet the vessel’s deck was already hot enough to burn the mate’s feet before Tieman was able to evacuate the captain and mate to the TowBoatUS vessel. After discovering the fire, the crew had done everything right by immediately issuing a mayday call with precise location information, set anchor, and attacked with every available extinguisher.
Yet it wasn't enough.
Are you ready for a day like this on the water? What is the condition and location of your fire extinguishers or other firefighting equipment? And most importantly, are you ready to abandon your boat in a moment's notice? Are your survival gear, life jackets and valuables within arm’s reach?
For recreational boaters, a simple fall overboard is the number one boating accident “event” that leads to the most fatalities. The U.S. Coast Guard reports that in 2006, 275 persons died in 721 boating accidents that began with or involved a fall overboard. While some of these accidents involved other factors, being able to quickly get back in the boat - without help - isn’t easy, as a BoatU.S. Foundation test of 11 portable boarding ladders recently found.more>>
Some boating accidents occur while transiting to and from the water and quite frequently on the launch ramp. The U.S. Coast Guard Auxiliary says “a successful boating outing begins when you leave home and ends when you safely return home.” Since the majority of recreational boats in the United States are transported to and from the water it is important that boaters take as much care transporting their boat, whether it be a power boat, sailboat, paddle craft or personal water craft as they do operating their boat on the water.more>>
There’s no doubt that life jackets save lives. In the United States an average of nine people a day die as a result of drowning – deaths that could have been prevented. But a life jacket that does not fit properly can put a person at risk of drowning. Proper fit is imperative for safety on the water. The US Coast Guard Auxiliary has a few tips to follow when choosing a life jacket.more>>
Most frequent travelers of our waterways are to
some degree familiar with nautical charts. Charts
can be broadly categorized into two groups: paper
“hard copy” charts, and electronic charts.
A nautical chart, according to The American Practical
Navigator, is a representation of the spherical
surface of the earth on a plane surface. Simply
stated, it is a map of the coastal bays, harbors
and rivers and the associated landmasses, or coastal
oceans for use in marine navigation. There is a vast amount of information on a nautical
chart, which has been drawn from a number of government
and civilian sources at great expense to the taxpayer.
The result of this collective effort is a spectacular
tool for the navigator, one that is nearly a work
of art. This article will address paper charts and
charts in general; much of the information applies
to electronic charts as well. more>>
