Boat capsizes in Raritan Bay

[Capt. Debbie]

I was working for S/T that day and time. Followed on VHF radio and went out.

Distress was called in by Good Sam at 10am who took one person off capsized boat off Keansburg. NW about 20 knots. Seas 2-3 feet. Occasional 4 footer. Boater must have been in water a while- loopy. No one say it flip but that boater.

Original Good Sam message said boater HE WAS WITH ONE OTHER PASSENGER. Good Sam took boater into dock ( not clear- Monmouth Cove made sense) . Good Sam left scene.

Then NYPD, FDNY, NJSP and Monmouth Sheriff all arrived searching for 2nd boater search. Dropped drift buoy to gauge body drift. NYPD Aviation drops two divers and under water search is conducted in and around flipped boat.

Nothing found. I think after hour of so the USCG decided ( NOT THE SOON TO DIE BOATER) what he was alone. I was DECLARED there was no 2nd POB ( only witness was dead guy). Which I think is weird. I guess it didn't matter. After a few hours he either blew to NJ shore and walked away or he/she drowned.

No further info on where he launched or name. Boater died later that afternoon in hospital. He was likely in water a while before Good Sam saved him.

I was out the in same sea conditions headed up to VZ in a 26 foot high freeboard Towboat and is unpleasant. Big breaking white caps from the NW. They run across the bay to NJ side and are big with steady 20 knot wind. 3 or 4 footers.

My guess is a wave broke over the O/B transom and the boat rolled over within seconds with those sea conditions.

Frankly it's disturbing being out there in seas that killed someone only a mile or two away in a protected Bay on a sunny day. But that NW wind is about as bad as it gets absent a REAL STORM out of the E or NE.

[NoLimit]

Big boats get real small real quick in the wrong conditions