This is a newspaper story about our local Coast Guard saving another boater who did not know what he was doing or where he was:
http://www.hometownannapolis.com/cgi-bin/read/2008/10_20-19/TOP

What makes it interesting is that the boaters who were lost were south of the Bay Bridge, a huge 4 mile long twin bridge across the Chesapeake Bay. Just south of the Bridge is Annapolis, one of the busiest recreational boating centers in the U.S. (they like to think of themselves as the sailboat capital of the U.S.). Also, on any given day, there is a good chance that there are midshipmen (from the Naval Academy) out in this area learning their seamanship. There are also commercial cargo vessels going to and from Baltimore. Lots of fishing boats also. Not exactly a deserted piece of the bay. Yet, they still apparently had no idea where they were, nor could they apparently describe it well enough to let the Coast Guard find them. By the way, at this point the Bay is about 4 miles wide and you can see both shores from just about anyplace in the Bay.

My nomination for the understatement of the year award goes to the Petty Officer who said: "If you end up in an emergency, one of the first questions the Coast Guard asks is where are you, so we can get to you,"

Good advice and a good job by the Coast Guard in tracking these folks down! But, I can't imagine how frustrating it must be for the Coast Guard to have to deal with boaters like this.

Morons on the (not so)high seas...

How do you afford a 28 foot bayliner and not a $100 marine radio or GPS?

I hope the Coast Guard sends them a bill, or otherwise takes ownership on one slightly used pleasurecraft.

Not defending stupidity but.... sometimes the visibility in summer on the East Coast isn't even 2 miles and just because you can see land that doesn't mean you know what land you are seeing. It all looks alike from a distance unless you can see landmarks (and have a chart with which to correlate the landmarks)

But they should at least have had a clue about any bridges they might have passed under....

Just a $100 GPS could have helped a lot. Maybe next time?

"... in an emergency, one of the first questions the Coast Guard asks is where are you, so we can get to you,"..."

Or law enforcement, ambulance, fireguys, SAR, tow truck, you name it. If you need help and can't tell them where you are, help is gonna be along time coming...

I don't know if this guy was out of MD or if he was visiting; but anyone his age would need to pass a proctored Boater's Safety test to get his certificate in MD. One would expect that the topics covered would at least clue him in that he should be paying attention, if not actually buy the basic equipment needed. The bay is not exactly open sea, but it is big enough to get lost in...

"Fools and their money are easily parted".

Ideally they would know where they are. Charts, GPS, local knowledge all have their place.

But it isn't uncommon for people to just get in the boat and go. Sailing or paddling in a small boat it isn't entirely out of the question because your not going too far. A little common sense and knowing where you started from might be good enough.

On the other hand in anything but the smallest and weakest power boat it is easy to start digging the wind in the hair and feel of the sun and the spray and only later discover that your many miles from where you started.

It is also pretty common to get lost. Coastlines can be quite complex in spots and they don't look the same way in the afternoon they did in the morning. It is easy to get lost among the many inlets, islands and multiple channels through the marshes.

They should have been better prepared. But people are always getting in over their heads. Only people who don't do anything avoid mistakes. The coasties hear this sort of thing all the time.

"...whose boat was having engine problems in the Chesapeake Bay..."
Based on the rest of the story, my guess is that they were out of gas.