This can't be good...

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MikeeH

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New Jersey Coast Guard Searches for 6 Missing Boaters​
Published October 11, 2010
| Associated Press

ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. -- Six New Jersey men failed to return from a weekend overnight fishing trip, and the Coast Guard was searching for their chartered sport-fishing boat Monday.

The wife of one of men called the Coast Guard on Sunday night to report that the group had left the Forked River section of Lacey Township on Saturday aboard the 32-foot vessel Black Magic. They were headed about 85 miles east of Atlantic City, expected to spend one night at sea and return Sunday morning.

No emergency radio beacon has been detected in the area. Two rescue helicopter crews from Atlantic City, a C-130 aircraft from Elizabeth City, N.C., and three Coast Guard boats from ports along the Jersey shore are searching.

The men are identified as Bernie Otiemsky, Jerry Lewis, Ed Filcox, Geoffrey McDade, James McDade and Ray Somerville. Their hometowns were not immediately available.

The boat's website said it carries an array of safety gear including a global positioning system, an autopilot, three VHF radios, a supplemental radio known as a single-sideband radio, an inflatable life raft and a satellite-linked emergency positioning radio beacon, or EPIRB. An EPIRB floats free from a ship when the unit gets wet, and automatically broadcasts a positioning signal that can enable rescue stations to pinpoint its location.

Police Say Coast Guard Petty Officer Jonathan Lindberg said the agency had not received any signal from the ship's EPIRB as of early Monday afternoon.

A message left with the boat's captain was not immediately returned.

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2010/10/11/new-jersey-coast-guard-searches-missing-boaters/

RO OP Note: Ya think maybe the message left for the boat's captain wasn't returned BECAUSE HE'S LOST AT SEA???!!!! DUH!
 
All of that safety gear will only help if someone on board knows how to use it. The boat's captain may be the only one who has that knowledge. If so, he may be out of commission: unconscious, delirious or dead. Let's all pray for the best outcome......
 
USCG has been broadcasting pan pan all morning

On the bright side weather has been really good today

85 miles offshore in a 32 footer, these guys are braver than ij am!
 
That's a very routine trip, Pascal. They're fishing the canyons. Its not uncommon to see 24 foot center consoles run out that far. I would expect there to have been many boats in the vicinity. Check your charts for things like the Hudson Canyon or the Baltimore Canyon where there are steep dropoffs with food welling up from off the continental shelf.
 
I know it s routine and at least these guys have an epirb (although silent).

They are still braver than me! :)
 
This ship was reported as seen by another vessel at about 10PM last night hours after they passed it but they gave the USCG Delaware Bay the GPS coordinates. There is even a C-130 involved. I just heard them call up USCG Indian River to send additional assets. There have been 2 Hello's in the sky all night and today. One had to be taken off for another emergency involving the Miss Beach Haven around 11AM it is back in the search now. As of Monday 5:10 PM the black hulled white top boat is still missing. The strange thing is the call origionally went out looking for a 40 foot Viking black hull with a white top. I have heard everything from a 31, 32 and 40 footer called out by the USCG. It's not like the USCG doesn't have assets deployed. There hasn't been any radio transmissions from the ship. I understand they were due back into Barnegat early Sunday morning. We had a 28 Bertram come back in that was out last night and they say the seas were 8 foot and close wave periods. The captain and crew told me this was probably the worst trip they have ever taken to the Canyon. Another 40 just left our marina for the Canyon a few hours ago.
Bill
 
all of todays panpans were for a 32 Blackfin. there were at least 2 reports i heard from boaters reporting a Black Magic coming in Barnegat but it was a black hulled viking 40, which is not the missing boat.

if on sat. the wind was blowing here as it was up on LIS, i can believe the 8 footers.
 
quote:
Originally posted by PascalG

USCG has been broadcasting pan pan all morning

On the bright side weather has been really good today

85 miles offshore in a 32 footer, these guys are braver than ij am!

Click to expand...


Standard canyon run, and a BF 32' is more than capable for the trip.
 
There is currently confusion it appears the USCG is talking to one of the rescue Hello's asking them to ask the Black Magic if they made a distress call this morning. I'm not sure what is going on. Too bad I have to leave in a few minutes to get back to work tomorrow.
I'll report back if anything developes before I leave.
They are also using the term on scene.
Bill
 
The USCG Hello just dropped the Black Magic a radio to communicate with them, it sounds like there could be a good ending. I still have a lot of questions though.
This is as of 7:31PM Monday evening.
Bill
 
As of 7:34pm they have been located by the USCG. It was just anounced the Pan Pan has been canceled.
Bill
 
quote:
Originally posted by Billylll

The USCG Hello just dropped the Black Magic a radio to communicate with them, it sounds like there could be a good ending. I still have a lot of questions though.
This is as of 7:31PM Monday evening.
Bill

Click to expand...


Electrical failure?
 
Coast Guard rescuers have found a fishing boat missing off the coast since Saturday and all six men on board were found safe.

The Coast Guard says the Black Magic was found around 7 p.m. Monday.

The boat left from a marina in Lacey Township Saturday and apparently broke down while fishing off Toms Canyon.

The men had failed to return from a weekend overnight fishing trip, and the Coast Guard was searching for their sport-fishing boat Monday off the coast of Massachusetts, where they might have issued a mayday call.

Thomas McDade said his father, Geoffrey, and 26-year-old brother, James, were among the group that left Saturday morning on a trip to catch tuna about 85 miles east of Atlantic City. They were to return Sunday morning and when they weren't home by the evening, Thomas McDade said his mother called authorities.

The search for the 32-foot vessel, Black Magic, initially focused on the area near where the men had planned to go fishing.

But a Coast Guard radio tower on Martha's Vineyard picked up a mayday call around 1 a.m. Monday, Coast Guard Petty Officer Jonathan Lindberg said. A recording of the call was played for families of the missing, one of whom recognized the voice as that of her husband.

The search then was expanded to include Martha's Vineyard, though the guard was continuing to search the area off New Jersey, he said. Two rescue helicopter crews from Atlantic City, a C-130 aircraft from Elizabeth City, N.C., and three Coast Guard boats from ports along the Jersey shore are searching.

Lindberg said there had been no contact with the boat since the mayday call, and no emergency beacon had been detected. The boat was equipped with an emergency positioning radio beacon, or EPIRB, which is designed to float free when the unit gets wet and automatically broadcast its position to rescuers.

The mayday call offered some hope that the boat hadn't capsized or sunk.

"I've been trying their cell phones, but they're too far off shore," said Thomas McDade. "There's nothing much we can do except hope and pray."

The weather in the area was mostly calm over the weekend, said Greg Heavener, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service's southern New Jersey office.

"The winds were fairly benign," he said. "There were a few spikes where it briefly reached 25 knots, but that was very, very quickly. There weren't any gales out there, and the seas were 3 to 5 feet, nothing out of the ordinary."

Geoffrey McDade is a diesel mechanic and James McDade is a machinist in the Navy. The younger McDade had just returned from a stint in Iraq, said Gisela Koch, who owns the marina where the Black Magic docked.

"It's so sad that it's father and son," she said. "I am close to tears. I hope they just had engine trouble and they're out on the water waiting for rescue."

The other men aboard were identified as Bernie Otremsky, of Haddon Township; Jerry Lewis, Ed Silcox and Ray Somerville, whose hometowns were not immediately available. Thomas McDade said several of them live near Forked River and most are experienced deep-sea fishermen.

Koch said the McDades were conscientious about safety, and carried a full array of Coast Guard-recommended gear, including flares and life vests. She said she saw them putting the gear in the boat.

Larry Slonik, a marina employee whose old slip the McDades rented for the current year, said their boat is a seaworthy vessel.

"It's a very good boat, and they kept it up well," he said. "They are just very personable people. I'm really concerned."

___

The Associated Press also contributed to this story.

http://pressofatlanticcity.com/news/breaking/article_3872039a-d542-11df-9bbe-001cc4c002e0.html
 
Wonder why they didn't use the EPIRB, would have really narrowed down the search area. Will be interseting to read the whole story. Glad they are all safe!
 
Was just looking at the Blackfin owners forum and the boat is a 32 Blackfin flybridge. The owner posts there (actually just put up new pictures of the boat a few days ago) so I expect there will be some info on what happened once things settle down.

John
 
heard the PanPan cancel tonight... glad they found them i hope we hear why the EPIRB didn't work!

if i was routinely going that far offshore, I'd have a sat phone, in addition to the EPIRB!
 
That kind of trip is done in the Pacific too. They go out overnight for Tuna.
 
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