On The Rocks

Let me guess:

1) The single (diesel) engine stopped turning.
(Lack of fuel or dirty filters)

2) Easterly wind.

3) Anchors, anchoring gear or scope not sufficient to drop and hold in 50' of water to stop drift towards shore. (scope 200' to 300' of combo chain/nylon minimum)

If this happened at night, they may have not fine tuned the radar enough and was trying to get in between the two concrete towers...?

"...scope 200' to 300' of combo chain/nylon minimum..."

Scope is a ratio, not a length.

The cause was just as likely due to the color of his forward hatch cozy.

The actual cause should be interesting and educational when it comes out. But in the mean time the guesses could also be educational. (Any prize for the correct guess? ) I'll go with what I feel is the most common mistake made entering an inlet. Shortcutting (who needs all those buoys. they're for the ships.) I'll guess he came down from the north, came in too close and met the wind/swell from the east without enough power to overcome it. My second guess would be that on radar he mistook the north Jetty for the south and realized his mistake too late to correct. Sad to see in any case. Hope everyone was alright.
As for the anchoring, I don't see any reason for a boat like this to anchor outside that inlet. A lot of fishing goes on there, but not with something like this.

Anchoring in or outside of the inlet might be handy when you take your single diesel yacht out for its yearly cruise without performing the proper fuel system maintenance. I believe that is the previously mentioned scenario that involved anchoring. Do you have a better suggestion for when your single conks out close to the jetty?

No, that's about the only reason I could think of for him to drop the hook there, but in that case nobody onboard is thinking about or calculating scope P.S. I hadn't taken much note of the anchor being off the roller. You may win the prize.

Here's the scoop from the local news down here in Palm Beach:

Boat Crashes Against Jetty At Lake Worth
Elderly Captain Avoids Dredger, Hits North Tip Of Jetty
POSTED: 9:25 pm EST February 27, 2011
UPDATED: 6:51 am EST February 28, 2011

LAKE WORTH, Fla. -- The United States Coast Guard said an elderly captain crashed his boat against a jetty as he tried to enter the Lake Worth inlet Sunday.

The 90-year-old captain, who was returning from a trip to Marathon Key, said he swerved to avoid a large dredger taking up most of the channel and hit the north tip of the jetty.

The Coast Guard said there are no details yet on the extent of the damage to the boat, but it can be confirmed that there is water inside.

Salvage crews said they will try to remove the boat at first light on Monday morning.

The Coast Guard said the elderly captain was not injured during the crash.

90 years old, God bless him. Glad to hear he wasn't injured. Guess by now he's in his Caddie making lefts from the right lane. (So.Fl. Q-tip humor )

At 90 years old, it might be time for him to retire his driving priveledges all of the way around.

Good luck with that. You know q-tips don't surrender their licenses until they've driven through a storefront or two. Besides, if he made it to Marathon and back he's doing pretty good. Although they say falling off a building doesn't hurt; only hitting the ground.

I see his RIB is still onboard, did he swim to shore??

how about falling asleep with the AP on?

Im not saying this is what happened here, but falling asleep on watch is unfortunately quite common