Thread:

Somber ending to an otherwise perfect day

You know how it is...
Being on a boat is great, but even more enjoyable when it's your own. Long story shorter...

A couple of weeks ago, my daughter and S-I-L picked up a nice used Mastercraft ski boat. We had yesterday planned for about 2 weeks. Our big boat, his skiier, and all of the kids. 6 kids, 5 adults. We had the tubes, and even brought the parasail. We packed everything up and motored down river about 15 miles to a nice beach by the castle. There is a little park where we BBQ'd for lunch, and headed back up to do some water sports. I found a nice big sandbar for the parasail and we set up camp there while the other boat pulled tubers. Nosed up on the beach, the aft deck was out in the water. We were sitting there talking on the boat when I noticed a boat that was beached ram the motor to get out. I thought he was just trying to get off the sand via his method. The tide was still going out, so I didn't know just how stuck he was. Hey, it's his boat, do what you want. Kinda watching, he goes out about 20-30 yards and starts throwing PFDs in the water. It didn't seem right from the beginning. I ran downstairs and got the binoculars so I could see more detail. Then people started juming from jet-skis and 2 more from that boat. Then I heard "he's down, male, 18, he can't swim well". Luckily, the ski boat was just coming back as I told the fiancee' to get on the radio and relay that info. She also called 911. We got the kids off the skiier, and jumped in to go over. I had my jacket on, dove in and began searching. It was 30' deep where he went in. 18 year old kid just floating out on a tube with his brother. No boat, no life jackets. They flipped over, and he doesn't know how to swim. The sun was setting, and after over an hour and a half in the water, I wasn't doing any good, and the current was taking me out. I could only see down to my feet with the light and clarity. He was found about 30 minutes later by a dive team in 27' of water. The kids al were witness to the events of locating, but not the recovery. They all did very very well. The hardest part was watching the victim's brother on the beach, right off our starboard, knealing down, head in hands.

that suck's . where did this happen? lot's of death's on the water this year from no life jacket's

It was Haddam, CT. Earlier reports from the news were all over the place with details, but finally got them somewhat right.

Its sad to hear stories like this. Our dive team had to leave our Radar Shoot last month to recover a 14 y/os body. You cant imagine what the family goes through. It puts everything into perspective.