Missing 18 year POC

[Cooper]

Continuing prayers....

[Speedgoat]

Prayers up.

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[bowhntrmatt]

Such a sad ordeal.

Darkness out on the water plays funny tricks on your brain. I remember one time crossing the open bay in my flounder boat with no lights on, seeing a red blinking light that I thought was a tower on the horizon. Turned out it was on a platform in the middle of the bay that I almost ran smack into.

[Mexico]

Will the barge company and tug captains face any fines or charges? I feel like they have a duty to not run a boat over, dark or not.

Biggest vessel always has the right away. Its not like they can stop or turn on a dime. They maintain a course and you must heed to it.

[AtTheWall]

Best with two sets of eyes when running at night. One maintaining the boat and the other with a Q-Beam for forward spotting and as Glen said, run slow and deliberately with eyes focused in that first 100 yards for the driver and the spotter, scanning sides and ahead. Lotta kayakers with a simple light on the stern or headlamp. Some will paddle without anything and or do not know the law when doing night trips. Jonboats are also a situation, and I've seen dozens running with zero light during post sunset and or that early launch before sunrise. With as many boaters as we have today, it's always that other boat, that either has light illumination issues or simply runs without lights, that make it a bit edgy. Some of the smaller freighters, running out of Louisiana and here in Texas, can push a wake that can build 3-5ft swells, along the banks with breaking waves. Same trip from Nola to Port A, in the Port Arthur ICW area, we had a 400ft long (approx) freighter steaming outbound. I was running tucked up against the right bank edge, with a seawall on the bank, vertical cement. We had plenty of room, about 50 yards from freighter in the main channel and us. All was well and still running 7 knots on our boat. Suddenly 3-4 rollers jumped up, surfable waves, with the whitewater breaking on the bar on our starboard. The wave angles forced me to cut toward the main channel to keep our bearing and bow from getting shoved onto the bank. I just throttled and cut toward the freighter holding on and off throttle to keep the boat positioned as the swells beat passed us. I know had I know took the night helmsman position, one of the other guys may of not had the experience to counter and hold?

And lights in shipping harbors, after running in pitch dark, as you near these cities, make it hail on your eyes and visibility. Vessels running with their legal running lights get blended into the background and in main shipping channel fairways, it becomes harder to judge distances and vessel direction at distance.

Deeper draft boats, running in proximity to shipping, many of the bars break hard as they pass.

[AtTheWall]

This was the boat - bigger = less movement in restricted waters with tight banks. Deeper draft at low speed, you get a lot of of hydrodynamic push on the hull. Tugs and barge traffic in the ICW, it will spin and headway is a challenge at low speed.

[justletmein]

I've seen dozens running with zero light during post sunset and or that early launch before sunrise.

On our Nilgai hunt down on the Arroyo last month we saw 3-4 boats per night running back and forth with zero lights, every. single. day. The duck hunting boats in the morning, almost all of them would have no lights but we didn't even count those. One goober was playing his radio so I know his electronics worked, zero lights completely blacked out. GW would (should) have a field day out there.

[glen]

Heard they have moved search into San Antonio Bay

[PondPopper]

Heard they have moved search into San Antonio Bay

Dangit!! Thanks for the update..

[hoythunter02]

Missing 18 year POC

Man, terrible tragedy. I remember getting a call from
CG station Freeport that one of their members had gone out that evening with a buddy for a duck hunt. Their Jon boat got waked out and capsized by a tug and barge. They were making their way back to the bank and one of them didn’t make it. We supported the search from Port O Connor and hauled *** all the way down the ICW that night to get to them in the RHIB. It was a soul crushing night of searching those waters. Divers found him later in the next couple days. We lost a brother.


Prayers to the family of this kid, God speed brother.


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[Walker]

Still praying.

[Mary]

As a parent, I cannot imagine the pain these people are going through. A worst fear for any parent is to not know where your child is.

Prayers for all his family and friends.

[AtTheWall]

I pray his his family and many others I've personally had to engage with along the coast working these cases.

With water temps down, they tend to stay down for days.

All we can do is pray, that he's recovered, to bring closure to this Family.

Been on my mind.......

[HUNTIN HARD]

February 2, 2023 Update:
The search continues for Hunter Hadley

The highlighted red area is where the accident happened.

The barge that was involved in the accident was stopped close by after the collision until the authorities told the barge they could continue on their way. Since divers did not search underneath the barge/tug after the accident we don’t know if Hunter could have been stuck underneath. If so, he could be anywhere from Port O'Connor to Aransas Pass where the barge is currently at.

There is a big effort to help look for him and there is a communication hub set up at 702 Sanctuary Lakes Dr
Port O Connor, TX 77982
United States to help boaters know where to look. If you go out fishing anywhere between Port O Conner to Aransas Pass please keep an eye out and shoot me a message so we can mark an area & continue to search.

Saw this update on FB. Can’t imagine what the parents are going through. Many prayers

[Amerritt]

Prayers for closure for the family.