MISSING AT SEA

[Duchess]

Today is the 5^th day that two boys in Florida have been missing. Their boat was found capsized but there has been no sign of them. They are very young, I think about 14. They have grown up on the water and are very familiar with boating. They both are avid fisherman.

I shoulda started this earlier while I was at my desk. It's a pain in the ass grabbing pix from this device.

I've thought about these kids everyday :(

[sally]

They're dead. Where else would they be, partying in the Bahamas? I'm sure the parents have heard enough about what morons they are.... but yeah, they're fucking morons for thinking 14 year old kids are responsible enough to take a small boat out in the ocean and expect them to follow everything that was preached to them about boat safety. 14 year old kids don't work that way, not even the mature ones.

[ramseycat]

I would never let my kids do that. That boat was way too small. I hope the boys are not dead. But I have a bad feeling.

[username]

Huh. Substitute boat for gun...


When news broke over the weekend that two 14-year-old boys had gone missing off the coast of Florida in a fishing boat, many parents raised a painful, yet inevitable, question: Why were the teenagers, Austin Stephanos and Perry Cohen, allowed to take a 19-foot, single-engine boat onto the Atlantic Ocean without adult supervision in the first place?

Addressing that question Tuesday on NBC’s “Today” show, their mothers told Savannah Guthrie that the boys were more than capable.

“Austin has been on the water since before he could walk,” said Austin’s mother, Carly Black. “This is his fourth boat. This isn’t new to them. These boys have been doing this…it’s not even second nature at this point. It’s in their blood…they’re out there.”

Perry’s mother, Pamela Cohen, told NBC: “We live in a boating community. These children are surrounded by water from the moment that they’re born. Perry knew how to swim before he knew how to walk.”

http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morni...-offshore/

I don't know much about this particular story but having read several stories about people who survived days/weeks lost at sea, I'd like to think there's still a chance these boys are alive.

[sally]

It's been five days, what water are they drinking to stay alive? If they're out there alive then someone better find them fast.

[HairOfTheDog]

I read about the story this weekend when Joe Namath joined the search. He is a neighbor of the boys, reportedly.

Hoping the boys are found alive.

[SIXFOOTERsez]

Been watching this since it started. I don't hold a lot of hope for them.
Last I red they were looking off the coast of Georgia

[username]

It's been five days, what water are they drinking to stay alive? If they're out there alive then someone better find them fast.

In Unbroken it rained periodically. I don't know. I have more hope for these boys than the missing two year old though.

[Duchess]

I must be the only one who doesn't see a problem letting 14 yr. olds have access to a boat. Not all kids that age are immature and untrustworthy. There are many who are more responsible than some adults.

[Maggot]

There are lots of kids that age that go out but that boat was found a very long way from where they left. It will be hard for the parents to ever look out onto the sea from now on without wondering.

[Duchess]

I listened to a captain of a charter boat talk about the squall that moved in last Friday and he addressed how bad it was. His boat is much bigger and he had difficulty in the wind, he thought the wind speed was 50-60 mph.

[Carsman]

I must be the only one who doesn't see a problem letting 14 yr. olds have access to a boat. Not all kids that age are immature and untrustworthy. There are many who are more responsible than some adults.

These 14 year olds may well have been mature & or trustworthy, but the problem was they were "inexperienced"! Yeah they were around water all their lives. But a boat captain that does not make, how much experience can a 14 year old have out in the ocean, in a small boat?
Most experienced boaters keep looking at the sky for changing troublesome looking clouds. (and some carry a weather scanner) When in doubt about clouds, experience may make them head closer to shore, (or even in) in case there is a squall. Better to be safe then sorry, these "kids" learned that the hard way.

[Duchess]

I don't like the way some are hassling the parents about those kids & their boat. I've read about some of the comments being left for them and it makes me a little irate. Just because some families have fucked up, immature and irresponsible teens does not mean that's the way it is in all families. Fuckers.

[sally]

I don't like the way some are hassling the parents about those kids & their boat. I've read about some of the comments being left for them and it makes me a little irate. Just because some families have fucked up, immature and irresponsible teens does not mean that's the way it is in all families. Fuckers.

Well the parents told them not to go in the ocean and it appears that's just what they did. Headed straight into a storm while the coast guard was posting marine warnings.

I don't think the parents deserve harassing comments, but I still think it's stupid. Boating experience doesn't stop 14 year old boys from thinking they're invincible sometimes.

[Maggot]

It never stopped me at that age. I'm lucky to have survived my teenage years.

[Jimbone]

Youth is king, until it's not.

[Carsman]

Youth is king, until it's not.

AMEN!

[username]

It never stopped me at that age. I'm lucky to have survived my teenage years.

Yeah, at about that same age, my husband and a friend made a raft (actually, my MIL helped them build it). They used to put it in the water around Tiburon (SF Bay). One day, they decided to sail it over to Angel Island. Sort of like attempting Escape from Alcatraz but in reverse. That water is NEVER warm and I'm pretty sure you're at risk of hypothermia year round if you end up in it.

The raft started falling apart about halfway there. Fortunately, a fishing boat picked them up before the idiots drowned.

[Duchess]

I don't know why I care more about this story than so many of the other ones. I'm going to be very sad if they find bodies or absolutely nothing at all as time passes.

[sally]

My last boating experience erased any thoughts of buying a boat from my mind. We were in the Keys and I told my husband lets just charter a boat and have someone who knows what the hell they're doing take us out fishing and snorkeling. But no, he insisted on renting a 23 ft boat on our own. He ended up chipping the propeller on a rock which cost us an extra 200 bucks and then we went out in the ocean briefly, but it was too choppy so we turned back in because I didn't feel comfortable with the three year old on the boat. So we did absolutely nothing except sit there with our poles in the water not catching a damn thing but seaweed.

After we returned the boat the guy called back and said the good news is you hardly used any gas, but the bad news is you chipped the propeller.