Sportfish tosses captain overboard...

I have very little inlet experience of this type. Hat's off to you guys who do it regularly. Question, if his bow hit the bottom hard and deep enough to cause a broach, wouldn't there be some evidence of that on the bottom paint? Doesn't seem to be any of that in the photos. The steering apparently didn't fail, since the mate was able to recover control.

The capt may have died doing what he loved, but man, what a nasty way to go!

Rest in Peace

He could have come down anywhere along the bottom or even the running gear and caused a broach. Also, depending on whether he scraped or came straight down onto the bottom, there could be little evidence or evidence that will only be apparent after being hauled.

With all the groundless speculation in this thread... how about if he happened to hit a little plastic buoy!

No buoy theories, please. It will be the bertram sinking thing all over again!

My prayers are for the captain. May he rest in peace.

I really do not see the point of trying to conjure the cause of this tragedy without being there when it happened. Or at least being familiar with the inlet.

What I am very much thankful for though is the insights you guys shared. You may be 100% correct about your theories and assumptions (except for the buoy ) or you may be way off (especially the buoy), but it puts a lot of food for thought on how to be safe out there.

That's the point. Let's not go into the speculation, and turn this thread into that.

A poor soul lost his life, and it is sad for boating whenever an incident like this happens.

Quotes like this do not belong here

How about we dial back guys. I see a minimum amount of speculation here, minor digression and very little trash talk. The thread has been useful from an educational standpoint and for the expression of grief. Maybe it's served it's purpose and is now time for it to become reference material. God speed Captain.

a person w/ a lot of experience at jupiter was there just before this happened.....watching from land,he observed a boat get into some trouble,get back offshore and go down towards palm beach....he then left and did not see the waterdog approaching.......he did say the breaking swells were much larger than the photos show and that they were breaking much farther offshore than usual .....

If you look closer, you can see this yellow buoy with the same antifouling marks on the side...

I don't think these waves were sucking dry, so I can't see the boat hitting the bottom. I think the boats gone off the top of the wave, the transom/last third of the back has come out of the water, his lost all/most drive and steering, and when the bow has dug in, it has steered the boat into a violent broach...?

Far

Interesting that you say that. I looked at the pictures and wondered the same thing. It's hard to tell from stills but it looks the the boat comes to a stop and then pivots.

R.I.P. Captain Henry.

In shallow water it could work. The balls would not be crushed by the pressure.

That was painful to write.

I am a bit surprised at this point that apparently nobody here has heard anything from the 5 people that were on board. What about the mate? Surely they have told their stories by now. Maybe one of you guys that live in the area will hear something soon and be able to share someone's account of what they experienced inside the boat. If so, that should at least tell us if the boat did in fact touch the bottom because it would surely be felt and/or heard.

Hi,

Here is Mythbusters take in the Ping Pong Ball operation: http://mythbustersresults.com/episode21

R.I.P. Captain Henry

Hope you catch a grander in the sky.

even though he was doing what he loved still not a nice way to go.

Maybe if one lesson could be learned from this tradegy, that might keep it from happening again, this horrible event would not be for naught?

A few years ago a tower builder and I had a big argument about installing a safety rail from the back tower leg to the bridge wing. He said it didn't "look good" and I insisted that, without curtains, this was a big gap one could easily be pitched through, exactly what happened in this case. Unfortunately, the owner and captain agreed with the tower builder and she went out without it.

I'm not suggesting a "rule" be instituted or anything like that, or that it would have definitely saved Capt. Henry in this case, but if all the savvy experts on this site were aware of it and made sure the boats they have dealings with had this extra railing, it could help save someones life in the future. I never had the pleasure of meeting Capt. Henry but I would like to think this would be a legacy he would be proud of.

Bill

I spoke with Capt Tom over the years from time to time when I we fish out of Lakeworth inlet. While the boat I drive does have a nice safety railing around the back end of the bridge, I'm going to install some safety "grab" rails near the wheel. Many of the charter boats in Lakeworth inlet and Jupiter inlet look like the "Waterdog"- with a tiny bridge that offers little space and less to hold onto when the boat is tossed around.

....can see it coming like a left hook: Murray Brothers chairs [et al] equipped with a seat belt, side/fore/aft airbags deploy when the boat leans/yaws past 10 degrees, a big flybridge-mounted plaque deeming that "Driving boats may be hazardous to your health"....

Brunswick already beat you to the last one. Any Brunswick produced yacht has so many warning labels all over the helm and elsewhere on how many ways you can die on a yacht, from carbon monoxide to swimming they've got it covered.