Fox News is reporting that just days before the fishing trip a buddy of the boat owner told him to buy a EPIRB for the boat.

FOX LINK

One of the reasons I have delayed my PLB buy is that I have no back country trips planned till late in the year. But I guarantee as good as the Park Service is, if I do my rim to rim to rim of the Grand Canyon in the fall I will have one. Not to mention once I am able to just do basic trail runs again in the desert.

Wow, just wow. A major confirmation of Doug's advice.

I'm all for having an EPIRB and/or PLB. In this case, it might have been a good idea. I've been sailing on smaller calmer bodies of water and made sure the EPIRB was working before we left.

But checking the weather before you leave and regularly while out, out at sea, out in the middle of the woods, out anywhere that weather can really change things for you, and even just making sure you check at home once in a while is a steller idea. If you are not listening for weather reports, how do you know if the weather in the near future is something that might be threatening, you or anything about which you care.

But I'd also recommend learning about and paying attention to weather patterns. It can often be very helpful, sand sometimes it can save your bacon, if not your hide.

when i read the reports this is what came immediately to mind. they were hypothermic when they abandoned the life jackets they had put on after the swamping.

not clear to me, but if they could hit bottom with an anchor, were they near an island?

Formal Accident Report by the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.

In short the anchor had been tied to the front of the boat (right) but when the anchor got stuck to the seabed they tied it to the rear (wrong) and tried to use engine power to pull the anchor free. That flipped the boat immediately.

In large it appears they were wwwaaayyy over their skill level being out at sea over 50 miles from port in 5'+ seas in a 21' outboard boat.

A SAR beacon would have had them in bed on time. But simpler still, the accident was preventable by checking weather reports, or perhaps realizing that they simply didn't have the experience needed to be where they were.