# Boat Accident tonite on the W. Jetty of Perdido Pass.



## Gone Fishin' Too (Oct 3, 2007)

Any info about the accident? Channel 3 news just reported that a recreational boat with 6 people on board hit the west jetty in the perdido pass just before 10pm on 7/1/08. Prayers are sent!!!! Hopefully nobody was injured.


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## Whitie9688 (Sep 28, 2007)

havent heard anything about it! hope everyone is ok! boat as well...


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## SandyKeys (Oct 10, 2007)

I just asked the same thing in off topic... just heard on the news... :angel Hate to hear stuff like that.


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## mpmorr (Oct 3, 2007)

They are in our prayers good or bad tonight.:angel


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## Deeplines (Sep 28, 2007)

Drove by there about 45 minutes ago. Saw the police at the point and the fire trucks light on the other side. Didn't think much about it. 

BEEN THERE AND DONE THAT. Something I don't want to do again. We were lucky. Prayers with the family. :angel


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## double trouble (Dec 18, 2007)

According to Ch 3 news this morning they hit the jetties at the west end at the pass in Orange beach.3 were taken by ambulance and 2 were air lifted by lifeflight. No other details were released about the accident. This was the 5am news on Ch 3 Hope everyone pulls thu this.


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## H2OMARK (Oct 2, 2007)

Prayers for all involved. With Murph, been there, done that. Not an experience that that I would care for anyone to go through. For the life of me, I don't understand why the lights are not maintained out there.


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## sniper (Oct 3, 2007)

I agree H20MarkYou would think some liability lies with the state or some government agancy to make sure that is lit.


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## GMan (Oct 17, 2007)

Prayers sent to the families, hope everyone will be ok.:angel


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## SheYakFishr (Oct 1, 2007)

Yeah... I heard it on 3 also... I thought... OMGGGG... Please let them be okay. :angel:angel:angel


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## SandyKeys (Oct 10, 2007)

Well last night when it was first aired, they said 5 injured, 2 airlifted, so apparently there are some severe injuries. I immediately checked here to see if anyone knew anything, but nothing. Lord knows I do not ever want to relive the worry we experienced with Mark,Robert and Murff!! :grouphug


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## CHICO (Oct 2, 2007)

I was with a friend of mine 5 weeks ago out there at around 3:30am heading out to the east end jetties to wait for sunrise. It was very confusing and I grew up with a summer beach house in Cotton Bayou. Not only are they building up and making a jettie out of the whole seawall but it also seems that they keep moving the channel markers. All of this just throws you for a looP but I do hope everyone is okay.


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## seacapt (Oct 1, 2007)

Three adults and two children.:angel

http://www.wkrg.com/local/article/orange_beach_boating_accident/15511/


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## H2OMARK (Oct 2, 2007)

> *SandyKeys (7/2/2008)*Well last night when it was first aired, they said 5 injured, 2 airlifted, so apparently there are some severe injuries. I immediately checked here to see if anyone knew anything, but nothing. Lord knows I do not ever want to relive the worry we experienced with Mark,Robert and Murff!! :grouphug


I'm with ya' on that one girl!!!


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## POPPY (Jan 9, 2008)

I justposted -- ch 5 said 5 on board - 2 to ER (head injuries) ...all so abody found in [email protected] DI Al., still looking into what happen (male or female ???? not reporting).... Poppy (aka Joe)


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## kingfish501 (Oct 7, 2007)

I will get slammed on this....but....back to charts.Go back for a year on here...check the boat collisions..and near misses.It is boiling down to people looking at a failable, sometimes off GPS...INSTEAD OF DOING WHAT A CAPTAIN SHOULD HAVE LOOKING AT...A CHART.I had not one but TWO seperate navigation systems tell me, while running a 590 foot freighter through Hell's Gate NYC that my location was 42nd and Broadway.The skipper doublechecked my work and said nope...we were at 51st and Broadway.Meanwhile I had two lookouts, one port and one starboard shooting magnetic fixes and calling them in to me from the wingbridges, so I could maintain a running fix on a chart.I knew where we were within 30 seconds at any given time through one of the worst areas in the US to navigate...because I did NOT rely on electronics.A GPS can be off by as much as 1/4 mile at any given time..and navigating through jetties is NOT the time to have an antenna take a crap on your position.


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## brnbser (Oct 1, 2007)

they just talked about it on ch 3, big suprise, boat operator was arrested and cited last night for boating under the influence


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## Catchin Hell (Oct 9, 2007)

> *kingfish501 (7/2/2008)*I will get slammed on this....but....back to charts.Go back for a year on here...check the boat collisions..and near misses.It is boiling down to people looking at a failable, sometimes off GPS...INSTEAD OF DOING WHAT A CAPTAIN SHOULD HAVE LOOKING AT...A CHART.I had not one but TWO seperate navigation systems tell me, while running a 590 foot freighter through Hell's Gate NYC that my location was 42nd and Broadway.The skipper doublechecked my work and said nope...we were at 51st and Broadway.Meanwhile I had two lookouts, one port and one starboard shooting magnetic fixes and calling them in to me from the wingbridges, so I could maintain a running fix on a chart.I knew where we were within 30 seconds at any given time through one of the worst areas in the US to navigate...because I did NOT rely on electronics.A GPS can be off by as much as 1/4 mile at any given time..and navigating through jetties is NOT the time to have an antenna take a crap on your position.


No slamming, but it's kind of tough to read a chart when you're underway in a small boat without a wheelhouse toblock the wind... A better idea would have been to slow down...


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## cape horn 24 (Sep 29, 2007)

I gotta agree with with catchin hell, SLOW DOWN

Been in and out of that pass for 20 yrs coming and going in daylight and dark never hit the rocks. Why, when I get close to the bouy I always find the red and green channel lights if there are out I slow down my speed and turn on the spot light and find the markers.

PS: don't blame it on the pass if somebody was under the influence


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## Deeplines (Sep 28, 2007)

I will have to chime in here. 

Blaming it on anybody is just stupid, it's not the states or Governments fault. CHARTS... well that's a joke when you are talking about REC. fishing boats. I've seen a few with radars but NOT ANY with alidades. :banghead

When we hit the jetty I was thinking to myself, we need to go to bare stearage way. 17 years of navigating Frigates, Destroy's, Cruisers and Air Craft Carriers has taught me that but I didn't say those words. It's coming upon an year since the accident and I STILL feel bad about it. I had a hellva friend who trusted my Navigation skills with his son on board and things didn't work out right. 

Just like all accidents when it comes to water. It's the small things that lead to the collision. It's not like a BIG ARSE BLUE WHALE surfaces in front of you. THOSE you can't do nothing about. 

Alcohol was not a factor in ours, belive it or not knowing how much I drink. To hear that there were 2 or 3 head injuries in the lastest wreck just makes me crinch. When I surfaced I was only 2-3 feet from the rocks, I was in the water. I could have hit them rocks with my head, even though hard headed, at 17 MPH I could have been killed. 

To tell the truth I wish this thread had never been posted EVEN though it needed to be. It just brings back memories that I had soon forget. 

They, the state or USCG do need to put 2 or 3 lights on them jetties though. It's been a while since I have done navigation but I think it is 15 QFR. Not because I had a wreck but a few folks have hit them not being fimilar with the area. When we hit them yes, the sea bouy light, the red one, was out and the Green day markers light was out. Only one flashing red light, the day marker light or post. The very next night another boat hit the rocks. 

Trust your instincts when out there. I knew there should have been a red bouy light long before we hit the jetty. I was looking for it and knew we were close to the bridge. I knew that you slow to bare stearage way when in doubt. I couldn't see nothing on the GPS, bouys wise, lights or markers. Something was wrong and should have made sure we went to idel BUT DIDN'T. Hence the wreck. Only words I said were I think we need to come left and then BOOM, on the rocks. I would say a second hadn't passed. 

Saying charts is the answer is well... not the answer. Trusting you instincts is. If alcohol was involved, which appartently it was, then I fell bad for the kids. What they blew I have no clue and yes I do believe it matters. 

Yes, I have been to NYC on a large ship, 500', and no it really wasn't much or a pain of a navigation detail. We didn't work off GPS in the navy. We used radar fixes and visual fixes. If for some reason we had different fixes of more then 10 yards then we took another fix immeditalty. If that fix was not within 10 yards then another. If not then bare steerage way till the problem was found out. 

Another thing about charts. Some folks canget them but MOST do not and that is theWeekly NTM.Also, if I'm not mistaken somewhere on that chart, it's been 6 years or sosince I did it, it says DO NOT RELAY ON ONE SOURCE OF INFORMATION for safe navigation. Hence, radar and visualfixes, GPS as a 3rd backup.

Sorry aboutthe spellingbut Niki must have installed something to where I can't use the spellcheck. I also can't look at jpg. pixs :banghead


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## 401 Cay (Sep 30, 2007)

If you are going fast enough to injure people when you clearly CANNOT see something like a set of jetties, then you were going too fast. Murph I am not pointing a finger at you.. but if you had to do it over I am sure you would reduce speed when in doubt to give yourself more reaction time. I have had near misses myself.. believe me.. which is why at night WITH RADAR and GPS I still come off the throttles when i cannot see in front of me. If you are in a bay where there are known obstructions you should give yourself maximum reaction time by SLOWING down. I hope the best for all involved.


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## BananaTom (Feb 16, 2008)

The story is posted at www.Weartv.com


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## Deeplines (Sep 28, 2007)

> *401 Cay (7/2/2008)*If you are going fast enough to injure people when you clearly CANNOT see something like a set of jetties, then you were going too fast. Murph I am not pointing a finger at you.. but if you had to do it over I am sure you would reduce speed when in doubt to give yourself more reaction time. I have had near misses myself.. believe me.. which is why at night WITH RADAR and GPS I still come off the throttles when i cannot see in front of me. If you are in a bay where there are known obstructions you should give yourself maximum reaction time by SLOWING down. I hope the best for all involved.


I thought that is what I said. I fucked up and didn't give the order to slow down or go to bear stearage way. :banghead

Don't know if you are fimilar with the term but basically it means about 3-5 MPH.


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## mpmorr (Oct 3, 2007)

> *Deeplines (7/2/2008)*
> 
> 
> > *401 Cay (7/2/2008)*If you are going fast enough to injure people when you clearly CANNOT see something like a set of jetties, then you were going too fast. Murph I am not pointing a finger at you.. but if you had to do it over I am sure you would reduce speed when in doubt to give yourself more reaction time. I have had near misses myself.. believe me.. which is why at night WITH RADAR and GPS I still come off the throttles when i cannot see in front of me. If you are in a bay where there are known obstructions you should give yourself maximum reaction time by SLOWING down. I hope the best for all involved.
> ...




Murph, I dont know these folks but me and my family have sent up prayers to them, for you I lit a candle. :angel Thank god you are here to talk about it.


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## BLKFLYZ (Sep 30, 2007)

I run that pass 2 or 3 times a day. I can count on 2 hands the times I have entered or exited the pass on plane. And none of those have been at night. The pass is so narrow its not worth it. Plus its so short, if you come off plane just passed the sea bouy it might take you 15 minutes to get all the way to the bridge at a safe operating speed. I dont get why people think they have run that pass????


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## ChrisH2O (Oct 4, 2007)

Driver was arrested for driving the boatunder the influence....:nonono


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## Getsome (Sep 28, 2007)

When I damaged my boat leaving Chico I couldn't see the rocks I hit because they were submerged. This has taught me a lesson about speed. When in doubt, slow to a idle speed. What are you hurting by slowing down? It may take you 30 minutes longer to reach your destination but everyone will arive safe and without damage to your boat.


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## H2OMARK (Oct 2, 2007)

> *Deeplines (7/2/2008)*
> 
> When we hit the jetty I was thinking to myself, we need to go to bare stearage way. 17 years of navigating Frigates, Destroy's, Cruisers and Air Craft Carriers has taught me that but I didn't say those words. It's coming upon an year since the accident and I STILL feel bad about it. I had a hellva friend who trusted my Navigation skills with his son on board and things didn't work out right.


<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">Murph, let me rephrase this a little for you. <P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; COLOR: #1f5080; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana">It's coming upon an year since the accident and <SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; COLOR: red; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana">I STILL feel bad about it.<SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: red; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt"> <SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; COLOR: red; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana">I<SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: red; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt"> _<U>HAVE</U>_<SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; COLOR: #1f5080; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana"> a hellva friend who trusted my Navigation skills with his son on board and things didn't work out right.<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-comfficeffice" /><o></o><P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; COLOR: #1f5080; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana"><o></o><P class=MsoBodyText style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN style="COLOR: windowtext">You shouldn?t feel bad either and I still trust your navigation. The sole responsibility of the boat and passengers laid directly with me and I alone failed that. With that said, my opinion is that the Corps should either keep ALL the lights burning out there or remove all of them. Don?t let the very most important one burn out and do nothing to replace it. Within a span of the summer, we were the fifth boat to hit it. Another 32 footer hit the exact same spot we did the very next night. Reading some reports, all have said that the light was not on. <o></o><P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><o></o><P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt">Now before I get flamed here for using a light for navigation, I do know that they are merely ?Navigational Aids? and we relied on them too much which turned out to be a huge and costly mistake. But, should the light have been operating correctly, my feeling is that most of those accidents could have and would have been avoided. I know ours would have been.<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><o></o><P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">BOTTOM LINE: When in doubt, slow down and regroup.<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">My heart and prayers go out to the people in this latest accident. There is nothing in the world that can begin to describe how you feel when this happens out there. It becomes very dark, wet and scary knowing there is no way on Gods green earth to get your loved ones immediate help and care out there.


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## kingfish501 (Oct 7, 2007)

OK...most fishermen do NOT carry charts...but why don't they?Been taught to believe in their GPS...because prior to GPS most boats did have a set...even large scale type.My flatsboat is only 15 feet...but it is a 65 MPH boat.In waterproof pc tubes right now, under the console are charts of Pensacola bay, St Andrews Bay and the area around Anclote Key...my main operating areas.

Murph...not to put you down, but you said the thing to use is not charts but instinct.,...look where instinct has gotten many people.Into wrecks.Charts are published for a reason...never seen an instinct published or updated.


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## dockmaster (Sep 27, 2007)

Perdido Pass isnt hard at night if you just go to the PP Sea Buoy (Perdido Pass) and head due north on your compass (assuming your compass is correct..) you will have the correct target angles of the next lights. If you cant find the PP buoy it flashes: MoA. the Morse code for the letter A, one short then a long flash. Dit Dah...

By starting at the sea buoy it puts the whole entrance channel in perspective, ie....red right returning.



If you try to be a hero and your drunk, its kinda like cutting across the neighbors lawn to get to your driveway. You don know what you will run over!!



BTW, the only other MoA flashing light i our area is CB, the Destin entrance channel



My rule is if you dont know where you are STOP. Why go farther. Like Clint said, do you feel lucky? Well do ya??



Have a safe weekend



BillD


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## sealark (Sep 27, 2007)

All these posts and not one mention of making a route out of the pass with your GPS and reversing it when you return at night. Just follow the line you came out on back in. I have done this many times out of Pensacola pass in 0 vis fog. I came in once and went through Sherman Cove bridgeand didn't see a thing until I got to the pier.


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## Tuna Man (Oct 2, 2007)

> *sealark (7/3/2008)*All these posts and not one mention of making a route out of the pass with your GPS and reversing it when you return at night. Just follow the line you came out on back in. I have done this many times out of Pensacola pass in 0 vis fog. I came in once and went through Sherman Cove bridgeand didn't see a thing until I got to the pier.


And I thought that was SOP:banghead I do that even on lakes that I know.


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