It's Like Telling Darwin "Kill Me!"

"3 rescued from capsized boat off Cedar Key shore."

Three people suspected of ignoring laws about boating safety equipment may owe their lives to following a basic rule of boating safety. Although the trio had none of the required emergency equipment on board, after their boat overturned, they stayed with it until they were found hours later.

According to the U.S. Coast Guard, the boaters, ages 53, 40, and 16, had gone out on the water Sunday afternoon from Cedar Key on a 16-foot-long fiberglass catamaran. Coast Guard officials said their policy prohibited them from releasing the names of those involved, but said at least two of the boaters were Michigan residents.

Cedar Key is one of my old stomping grounds, it's on the Gulf Coast north of Tampa. At one time most of the pencils in the US were made from Cedar Key red cedar wood. I once was stung by a "stingaree" (stingray) there while fishing.

In any event, these doofuses are lucky to be alive. If you go out on the Gulf, even in a fishing skiff (and when the Gulf is calm that's quite possible), you need to take flotation wear, an EPIRB (Emergency Position Indicator Radio Beacon) and, if possible, an inflatable life raft. That's a bare minimum.