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By Executive Petty Officer Karl Breedlove — Fall 2004
The scene is all too familiar on the South Texas coast.
A couple buys a center-console just shy of 30 feet. They cruise to Corpus Christi Bay and spend the day catching trout. Although they don’t regularly cruise these waters, they figure they have no worries. They’re experienced boaters on the ICW, a highly traveled stretch of water that, around here, runs between Florida and Mexico. It seems easy to navigate—but actually results in lots of emergency calls to our Coast Guard office in Port Aransas.
Just after 7 p.m, the couple, running at full-throttle, hit a shallow. They are thrown into the water. The boat runs them over, slicing the wife’s arm and cutting the husband’s chest. They are left bleeding as the boat flies through the air and lands in the middle of an island.
About 7:05 p.m., our office receives the 911 cellphone call from nearby boaters. They have retrieved the couple from the water, so we tell them to head toward the nearest marina—four miles away. Four minutes after we receive the distress call, our 25-foot Homeland Security boat and 24-foot Boston Whaler are under way.
We radio the local sheriff’s office, which arranges for a helicopter and ambulance. By 7:50 p.m., the couple are airlifted to a trauma center. They’re released that night. At 2 p.m. the next day, the boat is hauled out for repairs. Its 90-hp outboard is totaled, and the prop and fiberglass suffer significant damage. The repair work will cost several thousand dollars.
This incident is extreme, but it is more common than you might expect. In Port Aransas alone, we respond to at least 15 distress calls per week (on average) from out-of-town boaters who are transiting the area, are unfamiliar with the waterway, and end up running aground. The ICW has an average depth of 12 feet, but if, for example, you get close to the buoy line and out of the channel, you can be aground in no time. At best, this will prolong your schedule; at worst, it will cause serious damage.
The number of distress calls we get could be significantly
reduced if cruisers did three simple things. To start, you absolutely
must use local, corrected charts. One good resource is the Maritime Safety
Information Division of The National Geospatial-Intelligence
Agency (www.pollux.nss.nga.mil).
Don’t just get these charts—use them! It is paramount to know
where you are and whether you’re in the channel.
Second, you should slow down. You can get into a lot more trouble—and cause a lot more damage—running at full speed than you can at half-throttle.
Third, make sure you always have a posted lookout. In fact, the “rules of the road” require that all mariners must maintain proper lookout at all times. People think running into an island like the couple on their fishing boat did is a hard thing to do, but if you are not watching closely, it can happen more easily than you’d think. When doing extended cruises or transiting in an unfamiliar area, you must stay alert—do not switch on the autopilot, forget about everything, and go inside to have lunch.
Remember, even experienced boaters can and do get into trouble, especially in unfamiliar waterways.
Executive Petty Officer Karl Breedlove has 15 years’ experience on the water. He has been with the Coast Guard since 1994.
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