Sailor missing after capsizing in Lake Mangonia

by Ana X. Caron, Palm Beach Post on 28 Dec 2006 Yet another sailor has lost his life through not wearing a lifejacket. Freddy Edmonds says he asked his roommate whether he wanted to put on a life vest before the sailor set out to sail across Lake Mangonia.

But the 34-year-old man told him no. 'I'll be alright,' he said.

It didn't end up that way by the end of Christmas morning. Instead, West Palm Beach Fire Rescue divers spent about two hours looking for the West Palm Beach resident.

A little before 2 p.m. Monday, the rescue mission was over and divers were looking for his body. 'It has reached the outside edge of survivability,' West Palm Beach Fire Rescue spokesman Phil Kaplan said at that point.

Edmonds said that around 11 that morning his roommate hitched the 9 1/2-foot Snark sailboat behind Edmonds's van and drove to a boat ramp. He had been teaching his roommate to sail and offered Monday to test the waters before letting Edmonds take his turn.

The wind was churning up white caps in the gray water. 'He seemed to be OK with that,' Edmonds said. But about a half-hour into the day's excursion, things went very wrong.

Peter Shadowen was having Christmas breakfast with his family when he spotted the boat from his girlfriend's lakefront house off Australian Avenue. He couldn't help but notice the boat, he said, because it wasn't moving much considering the day's constant gushes of winds.

'It looked like they were having a little trouble,' Shadowen said.

The sailboat made a turn and flipped over, snapping off the mast. Shadowen saw a person with dark hair floating beside the boat and called police.

Meanwhile, Edmonds wasn't sure he was actually seeing his friend toppled into the water. He didn't have his glasses on and asked a woman nearby if she had seen the boat overturn too.

She had, and pointed out that the boat seemed to be heading north. Edmonds jumped inside his Econoline van and drove to North Shore Drive. There he parked in front of an empty lot and waited.

'The sailboat came in without the mast,' he said. 'And without him.'

Edmonds suspected his friend got caught up in the mast and drowned.

West Palm Beach police searched until dark Monday. The search could continue today, West Palm Beach police Lt. Chuck Reed said. Police had not reached his family Monday afternoon to tell them of the accident.

Reed also said the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission is investigating the case as a boating accident.