Apr 30 2009
Lessons learned from the Sea Hag and her captain
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Sean Haggerty and Sea Hag are towed to San Diego after a massive Coast Guard Search and Rescue operation. photo courtesy of USCG
So after all of the discussion, what did we learn? What did the Captain of Sea Hag do right, where did he mess up?
Based on your comments, he did right when he (1) “filed a float plan.”
But based on everything else we know, that “filing” may have been his cell phone call as he rounded Pt. Conception. We also had to assume he (2) had the foresight to bring food and water or some sort of beverages. Beyond that, he was in the hands of God and at least some of us are betting he (3) prayed.
What did he forget?
He apparently neglected to do any sort of nav planning and probably relied on the rubric: when heading to San Diego from San Francisco, keep the land on the left. Once he lost sight of land he was simply lost. Our guess is that he had no chart and had no idea of how to plot a course. He may not have had a compass. He did not have sufficient batteries to power his GPS or his radio.
He did not keep track of the weather, otherwise the gale warnings might have kept him from rounding Pt. Conception.
He did not inspect the vessel and did not insure that he carried the gear required by law.
We do not know how he managed to stay aboard the boat in the storm. Perhaps he rigged a jackline, wore his life jacket and harness and was tethered in. I think he just held on or locked himself below. Lying a-hull (no canvas) then going below and securing the cabin is an excellent survival technique.
At the end of the story, the Coast Guard C-130 finds him, but he could have made the rescue a lot easier (and more certain) if he’d had an orange flag, signal mirror, working radio and/or flares. Of course, only flares are required, but since he couldn’t afford to get his engine fixed, he probably couldn’t afford those luxuries.
This all begs the licensing question. Would he have done better if he’d had some training and passed a simple test?
