Update: Coast Guard ends search for missing quahogger
5:46 PM Tue, Nov 24, 2009 | Permalink
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As darkness fell over Narragansett Bay on Tuesday, the Coast Guard called off the search for Chester Kidd, the 47-year-old clammer from West Warwick who apparently drowned after issuing a distress call on Monday. ``Our thoughts are with the family and friends of Mr. Kidd," said Scott Backholm, the search and rescue controller for southeastern New England. "As a life-saving service, it's never easy to end a search with someone still missing at sea." A crew from the Kingston Fire Department located Kidd's 18-foot boat in about 20 feet of water about one mile southwest of Patience Island Tuesday afternoon. The state Department of Environmental Management plans to work with state divers to raise the vessel. Kidd was fishing for quahog clams between Rocky Point and Quonset Point when he called a friend from his cell phone saying his boat was going down and he needed help.
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Poor guy. He probably should have call emergency personnel instead of his buddy.
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Should have had a radio on board and hailed mayday and talked straight with the Coast Guard. Should have had a survival suit to significantly boost his survival time in the water. Always a bummer when someone gets lost like this.
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It's prob'ly not practical to expect a guy like this, out clamming in an 18 footer, to be equipped with a survival suit. But a life jacket at least may have kept him afloat long enough to be saved.......water temps around 50 deg. and help is never too far away in that area. Also, it shows the importance of having a VHF radio vs. cell phone on board. A call on the radio would've gotten a quick response from all over. There are still a lot of guys out quahogging / tautog fishing this time of year.
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Dangerous things can happen fast out on the water!I have seen and heard many in my 35yrs. out there. One of the most common and very dangerous occurances is when your anchored up in wind and tide conditions and you drive up ahead of your anchor and line to pull up your line easyer and the boat ends up drifting over the line getting tangled around the prop and lower unit... Now your faceing stern to the wind and wave after wave is pouring in over the stern or transom. Yes its happened to me and many others that got away with it by untangling the rope or cutting it away. But like I said, stuff happens quick and even the safest and respectfull boater can get in trouble out there. He had time to call but where was the flare gun? Did he have one? Could he get to it? This is a sad story about a guy "fisherman" trying to make a living out on the bay.
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