When four friends, including two NFL players decided to head out into the Gulf of Mexico for a fishing trip on the morning of Saturday February 28th, their fate was probably already sealed.

A cold front blew through while the men were at sea and anchored at a location where it was reported the four had been fishing. Their small vessel was capsized and as a result only one of them, Nick Schuyler a fitness trainer and former college football player survived after riding out rough conditions at sea while holding on to the outboard engine of the overturned 21-foot vessel.

It was reported early during the search that Schuyler’s father had warned his son before he left for this trip that weather conditions were expected to deteriorate and not to stay out too long. The boat’s owner and skipper, Oakland Raiders Linebacker Marquis Cooper reportedly also had some experience in skippering his boat outside of Florida’s Intercoastal Waterway around the Tampa Bay area, so one would have to wonder if he checked weather forecast before heading out more than 40 miles from shore.

Any truly experienced boat skipper is always mindful of the weather and just as with experienced pilots, they are more or less “mini-meteorologist.” I’ve had the pleasure of getting to know some of Florida’s greatest charter boat captains from offering special “waterspout tours” off the Florida coast and throughout the keys and every boat captain that I have worked with has been extremely knowledgeable at analyzing and interpreting a variety of surface and upper-air charts – their lives depend on the weather conditions while operating at sea and they know when and when not to leave port.

Here is a surface chart from about the time when these four fishing buddies decided to head out into open water.

There was presently a cold front that had moved through the southeastern Gulf States. This front was responsible for a line of thunderstorms throughout Alabama and George that spawned a few tornadoes. You can also see that the air temperature around the Tampa Bay area was in the low 70s with about a 20 degree drop behind the frontal boundary moving towards South Florida.

Here is a surface chart from 12 hours later, which the men wouldn’t have had access to since they likely did not have a marine fax on-board the vessel, but the forecast charts for the above period would have showed exactly this -

The following message was issued at 9:42 PM on Friday and was followed by similar messages on Saturday morning before the men left port.

URGENT - MARINE WEATHER MESSAGE

NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TAMPA BAY RUSKIN FL

942 PM EST FRI FEB 27 2009

...HAZARDOUS WINDS AND SEAS LIKELY SECOND HALF OF WEEKEND...

.A STRONG COLD FRONT WILL MOVE ACROSS THE WATERS SATURDAY NIGHT

AND EARLY SUNDAY. STRONG AND GUSTY NORTHWESTERLY WINDS WILL FOLLOW

IN ITS WAKE PRODUCING ROUGH SEAS.

GMZ850-870-281100-

/O.NEW.KTBW.SC.Y.0011.090228T2100Z-090302T2100Z/

TARPON SPRINGS TO SUWANNEE RIVER OUT 20 NM-

TARPON SPRINGS TO SUWANNEE RIVER OUT 20 TO 60 NM-

942 PM EST FRI FEB 27 2009

...SMALL CRAFT ADVISORY IN EFFECT FROM 4 PM SATURDAY TO 4 PM EST

MONDAY...

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN TAMPA BAY RUSKIN HAS ISSUED A

SMALL CRAFT ADVISORY...WHICH IS IN EFFECT FROM 4 PM SATURDAY TO

4 PM EST MONDAY.

SOUTHWESTERLY WINDS WILL INCREASE TO NEAR 20 KNOTS LATE SATURDAY

AFTERNOON...THEN SHIFT TO NORTHWEST AND INCREASE TO 25 KNOTS WITH

HIGHER GUSTS LATE SATURDAY NIGHT OR SUNDAY MORNING. SEAS WILL

QUICKLY BUILD TO 6 TO 10 FEET ON SUNDAY...CREATING HAZARDOUS

CONDITIONS FOR SMALL CRAFT. WINDS AND SEAS WILL DIMINISH FROM

NORTH TO SOUTH ON MONDAY.

PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS...

A SMALL CRAFT ADVISORY MEANS THAT WIND SPEEDS OF 20 TO 33 KNOTS

ARE EXPECTED TO PRODUCE HAZARDOUS WAVE CONDITIONS TO SMALL CRAFT.

MARINERS...ESPECIALLY THOSE THAT ARE INEXPERIENCED OR OPERATING

SMALLER VESSELS...MAY WISH TO POSTPONE TRIPS UNTIL CONDITIONS

IMPROVE.

&&

$$

That last line is a stark warning – huh?

Remember that no matter what kind of outdoor activity your planning whether its a hike along a mountain trail or a small Saturday fishing trip just off the coast of Florida – always check the forecast information. This usually requires a little more than a quick scan of The Weather Channel, but it doesn’t take that much time to find the information you need on The National Weather Service’s website (it’s loaded with great tools and information).

When reviewing the forecast information be sure to read through the text products – they are often more detailed than graphical forecast products and some even include the thoughts of the meteorologist that wrote the text. Familiarize yourself with the different products that The National Weather Service offers and learn how to apply them into your daily life. But, even if you don’t review the information on a daily basis – always be sure to do so when you’re planning any kind of an outdoor activity – even if its just going to a ball game or something, but especially if you’re planned location will put you at the mercy of nature!

And on a final note – I’m not trying to be cruel here, Nature is cruel enough sometimes. My thoughts and best wishes are with the families that lost their loved ones. But it’s a wake-up call to the rest of us! If Mother Nature can make two very athelticaly conditioned NFL players who are in thier best physical and mental form succumb to conditions in less than 24-hours – a person like most of us who are not in peak physical condition wouldn’t stand a chance either.

In 1735 Ben Franklin wrote – “Some are weatherwise, some are otherwise.”

I have a good feeling that if Franklin were alive today, he'd pay close attention to his local area forecast from the National Weather Service.  You should too.

Tags: news, weather events