Anyone heard about this ??

They just showed some live footage on 13 but I missed the story. When the helo gets back I will ask what happened.

http://www.wvec.com/news/topstories/storie...e_.10f49a2.html

I just caught some of it on 13. 2 confirmed dead.

Another reminder of why everyone needs to be careful out there when the water temps get this cold. Anyone know anymore details? Why was an 18 footer with 6 people in it out there on a day like today? From the weather report, it looked like it was blowing pretty good out there earlier.

That is crazy. We were out yesterday and it got a kind of rough coming back in to Lynnhaven in the late afternoon but six people in an 18 foot boat?. Where are peoples brains? They must be in the Jon Boat I saw out there yesterday

Yeah, six people is a little rough in any 18 foot boat. I'm guessing it was some kind of flat bottom boat, either a john boat or some kind of skiff. Prayers go out to the families.

Very sad. Prayers to their families. 6 on a 18 footer? What were they thinking? I don't like 6 on my 27'.

News is on now. 1 pronounced dead, 1 critical.

It's back on 13 now. Doesn't look like it was that rough out there, wonder what happened? Looks like an aluminum boat. Now their saying there are conflicting reports about the 2 confirmed dead. 1 confirmed dead, 2 stable, 2 their unsure about their conditions, and one is critical.

Sorry to here the news. We all play the game. With the cold weather and the Frost Bite coming up, everyone needs to pay extra attention and be safe.

WAVY 10 says 2 confirmed dead, 1 truck and trailer in C.C. parking lot, they wont show it on tv. dont know what they were thinking.

Prayers to all those involved, both victims and rescuers! We have all seen folks that should have done otherwise- many of us have literally been in that boat. With the cold air and water temps we need to make an extra effort to be safe. Wear your flotation- those warm clothes will pull you down instead of helping you float. I know we are all pulling for the survivors. Let's keep these folks in our thoughts and prayers and hope that we have a SAFE challenge this weekend. You local guys keep us posted!

Well hope the best for the guys in the hospital and condolence to the family and friends of those that didn`t make.
Boat was a 18ft tracker look like one of those semi v-hull ones like bps sells. 15-20 knotts guest to 25 knotts I`m sure the seas were a little bigger than the 2-3 that the news is reporting probably 3-5 would be closer. With 2 boats in past few weeks guys need think about the conditions when heading out in small boats. Today would have been a much better day to stay in the river.

Prayers to the families.

May prayers be with all involved!

its a total shame that this ever had to happen, trust me, i'm as anxious as the next guy to get out there and go catch some fish but the last thing i want to do is put my life in danger to do it. here is the link to the story from pilot online and a pic of the boat.

http://hamptonroads.com/2009/01/two-dead-f...-virginia-beach

It's not just the size of the boat Jimmie, but the kind of boat, and the people operating it. As I've always said, you never buy an aluminum or a flat bottom boat for open water. I realize this one had a V, but has anybody else even glanced at these overpriced tracker boats?? May be good for a lake or river, but I wouldn't give you 5 cents for one to use on open water. In my old mans hay day he went offshore every single weekend with an 18 foot boat. That was before all the advance weather reports and before GPS. They ran in to plenty of rough conditions, but managed fine. It's all about using a little common since and being smart about it. 6 grown men in an aluminum boat best suited for a small lake??? Another big factor is the captains experience level. I don't know, it's a sad story. I'd still like to know exactly how they capsized the boat. Even considering what type of boat it was, I think it took a little work to put her belly up like that. My $.02 Sad story. Hope the survivors pull through ok.

Our condolences goes out the the families. I read the above article on this story stating they were from Arizona. I seem to remember someone posting from Arizona looking for help with the local area.... I sure hope it was not them.

I thought they might be out of towners. I hope it wasn't anybody that has been on this board either.

It's a fairly long walk to the beach from Arizona, so it's a safe bet they didn't have much knowledge about saltwater in general and this area in particular. Sad story, for sure, and a definite wake-up call for all of us.

I had the task of running this SAR case from the Coast Guard Sector Hampton Roads Command Center. I won't post all the details on it but I will say all we recieved from the 18ft boat was 2, two second mayday calls with no position or information. Luckily we had a Helo in the area and the VA/MD piolts were also in the area for a quick response. We were able to locate their position from our new Rescue 21 Communications gear that provides a DF Fix if it's in the area of two or more towers. I think all of us boaters can take a lesson learned from this unfortunate event.

My 18 foot semi v hull (Maycraft) maxes out at 4 people, according to the coast guard plaque. 6 is to many for any 18' boat, 4 is to many for mine. Safety first!

Awhile ago, there was a post from a guy driving from Arizona, are these those guys???

I saw the boat right side up and it looks a lot like this -




Really Unfortunate

Ryan it was one of the tracker walleye boats go to bps and look at the 18 ft model. It is sad day to see hear anybody not making it back safe off the water and like I said before prayers go out to them and also a get well soon to those in the hospital. With the sea conditions and running overweight ( low in the water) they probably stuffed the bow and swamped those boats aren`t ment to self bail that much water nor handle ruff water like that. While a whaler or other type of boat may not sink they can still capsize just as this boat did but the knowledge of the Capitan is always key. I`m not a fare weather fishermen but have learned when to turn around and head to the river to still salvage the day

Just my opinion, but I wouldn't give them $.05 for one of those soda cans.

Thoughts & prayers go out to the families.

Locals, please keep the rest or us up to date. I have not seen or heard anything on any of the Richmond news channels. All they can report is Inauguration stuff.

Thanks.

There was a post from one of these guys a few weeks ago (might have been between Thanksgiving and Christmas). He talked about how he was looking forward to traveling from AZ to here with his friends to catch some rockfish. I remember the post well, I told my wife about it. In the post, it sounded like they had made the trip before. What a sad thing!!
david Looks Fishy

I remember reading that post .... I can't seem to find it .......

This is extremely sad. My condolences to the families of the victims. Its truely a hard time for all of them.

Well Tony, I found one post from AZ. I don't think these are the guys though because this was back in Nov., and they were talking about coming over that Thurs..

http://vbsf.ipbhost.com/index.php?showtopic=16054

I shot him a pm to see if it was him.

I saw those guys pulling their boat out of Owl's Creek yesterday afternoon. I made the comment to my buddy that I could not imagine being out on a boat that small in the ocean. God bless them and their families. My heart aches for them. There is always another day to fish.

How can we give local help to the survivors and the families? They might need hotel rooms or some type of help. We could all chip in a little.

The more I keep thinking about this, the more I think it might be the same people. There are alot of similarities, like the fact he said in his post it was their "annual" fishing trip to the bay. On the news they mentioned something about the fact it was these guys annual trip here. Also, how many people trailer their boat all the way from AZ to VA? Coincidence? I think it may be the same people fellas. Maybe they changed the date of their trip.

I think you may be right as one of the news reports had a letter that one of them had written to the Va beach Chamber of Commerce, I think, stating that they had been doing this for 5 years and they were looking forward to doing it again this year. I don't expect there are too many that drag a boat all the way from AZ. Our thoughts are with their families.

I saw the truck late model dodge 03-07 white with camper shell at crab crk ramp only truck in the parking lot. Police were taking info off truck...Police were getting ready to load boat back on trailer.Sad event of circumstances...

I agree. Perhaps the VBSF board leadership could set up a fund we could send contributions to. Thoughts and prayers to the family and survivors.

From this article that was posted earlier in the thread:

http://hamptonroads.com/2009/01/two-dead-f...-virginia-beach

Recently, the director's office at the Virginia Beach Department of Parks and Recreation had received a letter from Ric Rokey of Mesa, Ariz. Rokey wanted "to send along an Atta-Boy" to the men who run the Lynnhaven boat ramp. "For the past five years we have been making the long drive... to your city," Rokey wrote. "We arrive in early December to chase stripers for a week... then store the boat and truck... and fly home for Christmas. We then fly back to Virginia Beach for another week of fishing... " Rokey said one man at the marina takes photos of them boarding their boat in the morning, then leaves the pictures on their car windshield. "That is just one example," he wrote, "of how ALL of those guys act when we 'Zonies' arrive at the ramp."

And in the original post by the folks from AZ:

After five years of doing this we finally think we know how to fish um but reading this forum sure helps us on where to start, who's got the right away, and how to dodge those monster submarine waves. Those friendly gents at the Lynnhaven Launch know us as those crazy Zonies since we drive all that way to CPR (catch photo and release)

I have to think they're one and the same. My heart goes out to them and their families. Sad Stuff...

Our thoughts and prayers are with the families and survivors.

As a Oh by the way, my brother has one of those 18' tracker boats someone posted earlier. Been trying to get him in something fiberglass with sides for a few years now.

Maybe this will convince him.

Good Morning,

I was hoping I might be able to get some updates.... Five of these guys were my friends and former co-workers. I never had the pleasure of meeting Ned Rokey, but all I ever heard was that he was the nicest guy you could ever know.

Yes, this is the group that hauled the boat out there from AZ in early Dec. I joined them on Dec 7th and we fished that next week. We left the boat in VB and all flew home. Then the next group flew out there and started fishing this week. This was at least the third year that they had done the trip on this format and I believe it was the the 5 year on the bay for at least 2 of them.

If I remember correctly, the plaque on the boat said that it was rated for 7. I'm no boat expert, so I won't comment any more.

As for experience... Some names have been released either through VA or AZ media, so I will stick to those three... Between Al Dedrickk, Ric Rokey, and his father Ned Rokey there was probably more than 120 combined years of boating experience. Not all was fresh water. Ric, his brother and dad had a Grady White that they kept down in Mexico and made frequent trips into the Sea of Cortez.

These guys knew when to turn around and when not to go out. On my trip out there in Dec, there was plenty of concern for safety and we did not fish 1.5 days of the trip due to water and weather conditions.

Something had to have gone wrong... just wish I knew what...

I have to go to work, but will check back.

Please be safe.

Bob Strand, Phoenix AZ

Bob- I wish your first post could have been for almost any other reason! Sometimes bad things happen to good people and that seems to be the case here. Our bay waters can change extremely fast and as you can tell by some of the other posts here, we have all seen folks put themselves into situations that they should not have been in. We cannot change what has been done. Our thoughts are with all of those involved. Please let us know if we can individually or collectively do anything to help. The posts from our 'zonie friends raised quite a bit of interest and discussion on this site and we are truly saddened by your loss.

Kevin

Bob,
Sorry for the loss of your Friends. I also wish to extend an APOLOGY for those Know-It-Alls and Professional-Boat-Safety-Preachers on this board who have made statements about how they would have not been out in that type of boat in those conditions, and or made comments about the Boating-Abilities-Experience of someone they have never met. In this digital, too much Free Speech, Say Anything, anytime world of ours today people just have no regards for other peoples feelings anymore! Shame on you people with your negative comments!!!! Accidents happen!! Some preventable and some not. You can place yourselves in glass bubbles and be safe, however you never know when that bubble may burst. Or you can live life to it's fullest and be kind to others. This board is known for being very helpful to people, but sometimes you guys and gals can be very Cruel.

Bob, I'm extremely sorry for your loss. My thoughts and prayers go out to all those involved. It is a true tragedy.

I was just told that another victim has passed away today. Is this true?

I'll second that.

My condolences to the family of friends of the anglers.

I concur with that fishdad.....I've been on the reading end of one of these threads from a family perspective....not on VBSF but newspaper and news reports....you never know who's gonna find these threads and read em....thanks for reminding us of that.....Sincere condolences to the family and friends of the victims...Bob

Bob, I edited my thread when I realized I wasn't practicing what I was preaching so I started a new thread.

I am truly sorry to hear this awful news. These fellas arent the First to have an accident on the water and they surely wont be the last. All we can do is offer our condolences and learn from their mishap.

Bob, Please except our condolences. Is there any way that we could provide local help for the families? Please don't hesitate to let us know.

Sincerely,
Scott Meredith
757-739-1994