On August 24th, 56-year-old Karl Chen of Princeton was killed after being ejected from a 27-foot center console in Little Egg Harbor Bay off Holgate. “Based on a preliminary investigation, a 27-foot Robalo vessel struck a large wake, causing both occupants to be ejected,” said New Jersey State Police Sgt. Jeffrey Lebron in an email to media outlets, adding “The vessel then continued to circle and struck one of the occupants.”
The incident occurred near channel marker 116 along the Intracoastal Waterway behind Long Beach Island. According to Deb Whitcraft, Beach Haven’s First Aid captain who was on the scene, the second man thrown into the water with Chen was rescued by a good Samaritan and wasn’t injured in the incident.
Chen was a doctor with a medical practice in East Brunswick, a hardcore angler, and a Facebook friend who shared quite a few of his catch photos with The Fisherman. He was highly respected within the medical community and by his patients, and extremely well-liked in the angling community.
“He touched a lot of people,” said Carole Ann Palmer from Jingles Bait and Tackle in Beach Haven in a brief interview with NBC’s Ted Greenberg. “I feel the whole fishing community is completely devastated,” she added. According to Greenberg’s NBC10 Philly report, Chen’s friend said his boat’s wireless engine cut-off switch system didn’t stop the vessel as it should have when he was thrown from the helm. Officials said a cut-off switch link using a physical connection can be more reliable.
Just two weeks prior, another buddy of mine, Capt. Joey Leggio from Long Island, was thrown from a boat in which he was a passenger after the vessel spun hard after coming out of another boat’s wake, throwing Leggio into the water where he was run over the propeller. Thankfully Capt. Joe survived, although with serious injuries to his arm and hand.
Tragedy can happen fast, especially when boats are involved. It’s not something we often think about, or even want to think about, but every time we pull away from the dock – whether by kayak, center console, or custom sportfisherman – we are literally risking life and limb. And while certain regulations – like a PFD rule from November to May, or the use of a “kill switch” – may seem onerous and intrusive, they should serve as a personal reminder that safety is paramount.
Personally, I have a “tethered” kill switch that shuts off my Suzuki 140 when it becomes “untethered” in the link between me and ignition switch. But I’ll admit, it’s not always tethered to me while operating the boat, even though it should be, and by law it must be! As of April 1, 2021, federal law requires the operator of any motorized boat of 3-horsepower or more that is less than 26 feet in length with an installed engine cut-off switch (ECOS) to use that ECOS link. The link is usually a coiled bungee cord lanyard clipped onto the operator’s person, personal floatation device or clothing, the other end attached to the cut-off switch.
Additionally, the New Jersey State Police manual states, “the operator of any vessel equipped with a lanyard cut-off switch shall wear the safety switch lanyard at all times when the vessel is in operation.” Thus, if you have the ECOS installed – and just about every new outboard install today has it – you have to use it in the Garden State.
Obviously, the situation with Capt. Leggio was different because the boat’s operator was not ejected from the boat. And as we learned from the NBC10 reporting, perhaps a wireless engine cut-off switch system isn’t a sure thing either.
Tragedy cannot always be averted; but it should serve as a reminder that we can and should minimize risk wherever possible.
Fair winds Dr. Chen.
