June 7-

http://www.bellinghamherald.com/102/story/940750.html

June 8-

http://www.bellinghamherald.com/102/story/941999.html

A few points:

http://bellinghamstertalk.blogspot.com/search/label/NEWS will take you to 2 blogs I wrote on the general topic of /news’

The news coverage provided did seem sketchy and incomplete, perhaps due to consideration of relatives, as well as absence of additional facts - which appear to still be missing.

A thought: if the sailboat in question was only 18-feet long, probably overloaded with 6 passengers, all without PFDs, and was out late at night without other boats around to help, disaster seems to have been being courted, in the name of fun. Unfortunately, the sudden high winds that unexpectedly gusted that night probably actually caused -or at least aided- this disaster.

As a kayaker with some safety training, I know that just a few minutes in near 50-degree water will cause hypothermia which pretty often incapacitates even the strongest people. Unless near shore, with adequate gear, or traveling with others who can help, being in cold water can always be dangerous, and sometimes even fatal.

For comparison, the length of my double kayak is 22 feet; the single kayak is 17 feet, and neither has sails that can cause tipping in wind conditions.

I am deeply sorry for this latest local disaster, and grieve for those lost and their loved ones.
But, like most disasters, it seems this one could have easily been avoided.

The Herald reporting recently resembles a theater of the macabre. One wonders if they have decided to replace reporting current events with boilerplate for rehashing anniversaries of various remembrances.  Perhaps they are aiming at making the such dates into community events to boost their advertising.

Respectfully remembering such tragedies is fine and proper, but amidst the blizzard of stories I have not seen much critical examination of the causes or hard analysis of whether we have actually made any significant progress toward a safer community.

This same complacency seems to also pertain to the recent boating accident. I find it extraordinarily negligent that the Herald has had nothing on the massive search that the victims families and friends have had to undertake without proper training, logistic support or resources.

Why did the Coast Guard call off the search days sooner than most would quit looking for a lost dog? By suspending the search, they tied the hands of Whatcom County Search and Rescue, who would otherwise have been eager to help. Where did they search? The Coast Guard has access to the world’s best current modeling.  Was it employed to guide their search? Amateur searchers are following the signs of wind driven debris from the vessel to the north shore of the Bay when in all likelihood the boys drifted southwest with the tide into Samish Bay.  Only a careful compilation of tide, current and wind data could reasonably narrow the search.  Meanwhile, scores of friends and family are desperately trying to inspect every foot of a very large, difficult and dangerous coastline.  Let’s pray that no one compounds the tragedy by slipping off some crumbling precipice in the attempt.

Every year, more folks are hurt or killed in boating accidents than in all other sports combined. It’s not more dangerous than football or soccer.  It just that more people do it without adequate safety training. That was clearly a factor in this accident.  Gunther was a competent sailor, but he should have had everyone in a life jacket for that wind.  Even without Gunther, everyone on the boat should have had enough exposure to water safety training to know that they should wear flotation.

This is particularly poignant for me.  In 1981, I started lobbying the Port of Bellingham for a community facility that could provide such exposure to safety training and boating skills.  It’s a no-brainer. We have so much water around here, and so many accidents. But for four years I got nowhere. Why? Ironically, because one commissioner’s son had drowned in the bay after his small sailboat capsized!

Another excuse was that they “had plans” eventually for such a facility in the new basin at Squalicum Harbor.  Unfortunately the proposal was only to help their federal grant application score well.  Once the money was received, the plans were dropped - along with the fisherman’s market wharf and the do-it-yourself boatyard. Eventually the Port told me they were in the business of business, not interested in community organizations, and not to come back wasting their time without a business plan. I hadn’t planned to start a boatyard but in 1985, lacking other options, I did.

24 years later, Fairhaven Boatworks has finally transformed into the Bellingham Bay Community Boating Center, where such skills and knowledge can be dispensed.  But it is no understatement to say that the survival of that facility was only by dint of sheer perseverance and obstinate refusal to succumb to the disadvantages heaped upon its operation.

It seems like times are gradually changing in Bellingham and at the Port but, just as with the pipeline tragedy, Our community won’t make real progress until we quit glossing over the problems, get critical and seriously dig in to fix them.

By the way, two Port Commission seats are up for election this August, both with two competent challengers.  Ask candidates for their position on boating safety and community facilities. Will the Port help fund boating safety programs? Many Ports offer fine facilities for this purpose for a dollar a year. Ours struggling postage stamp pays the highest rate of any water-dependent use on Port property.  Let’s make sure and train our children properly before any more of them are lost.