November Coastal Updates – SCDNR
|
|
Cruisers Net publishes Loose Cannon articles with Captain Swanson’s permission in hopes that mariners with saltwater in their veins will subscribe. $7 per month or $56 for the year; you may cancel at any time.![]()
![]()
![]()
![]()
![]()
![]()
![]()
When all else fails, try journalism. Here’s another from the New York Times. We have started sharing stories designated as “gifts” from our Times account. This one was first published earlier today. Use the link below. By NICK SCHONFELDTo reach Tristan, roughly halfway between Africa and South America, Kelly Green crossed 1,738 miles of the South Atlantic from Cape Town aboard the M/V Edinburgh, a 205-foot lobster boat. She had never been to sea before, and she worried about seasickness, but it never came. After a week at sea, the ship dropped anchor off Calshot Harbour, in front of Tristan da Cunha’s only settlement—Edinburgh of the Seven Seas. Its two small piers, jutting into the water, looked to Kelly like arms reaching out to welcome her. Kelly could see most of the island’s residents (then 264 people) waving, including her mother and father, Marina and Sean Burns. Her father had been sent to the island, a British Overseas Territory, to serve as its administrator. He persuaded his reluctant 22-year-old daughter to visit, though Kelly, living in Britain, was more interested in clubs than remote islands. Kelly remembers him saying: “You have to come out, because you’ll never get the chance again.” Among the men who helped carry her bags off the boat was Shane Green, 21. They met again that night at the island’s only pub. They danced. Kelly went home after six weeks. The first night back in Cape Town, South Africa, where most ships leaving Tristan travel to, her hotel phone rang. It was Shane. They talked every night for months. That was in 2012. Two years and several visits later, Kelly made the decision that would change her life: She moved to Tristan and became the first woman in over a century to settle there for good. The last had been three Irish sisters, in 1908. Living on an isolated island requires residents to be rather social—to pitch in for the common good, wear multiple hats, work long days and make their own fun. Tristan was first sighted in 1506 by Tristão da Cunha, a Portuguese naval commander. Britain annexed the island in 1816 and set up a garrison for a year. A Scottish corporal stayed behind with his wife, their two children and two English stonemasons. That was the beginning of the community that lives there today. Only 220 people now call it home, down from a peak of 300 in 1993. In the past three years, there have been 21 deaths and only six births. A few islanders have emigrated over the years. READ THE REST OF THE STORY FOR FREE
|
Cruisers Net publishes Loose Cannon articles with Captain Swanson’s permission in hopes that mariners with saltwater in their veins will subscribe. $7 per month or $56 for the year; you may cancel at any time.![]()
![]()
![]()
![]()
![]()
![]()
![]()
When all else fails, try journalism. Being a True-Crime Talking Head Ain’t All It’s Cracked Up To BeNuance Is Also a Victim in Shows About Trawler Arson-MurdersI’m guessing most of you guys don’t watch true-crime series on the tube. I certainly don’t, but I’m a true-crime talking-head veteran. I talked about the same trawler murders twice—same story, different networks. And I’m here to tell ya: These true-crime folks don’t do nuance. On the surface it was a simple boy-meets-girl story: Boy with boat meets girl. They marry. Boy is actually a monster. Boy and girl divorce. Girl gets boat in divorce. Boy kills girl and new boy inside boat, then burns boat to the waterline. Police gun down boy. The end. But there was another interesting twist to this story, which goes unexamined by both shows. Maybe, because a nuanced examination might cross some true-crime line by suggesting that the victim was somehow less than saintly in her own behavior. Two ShowsThe were a couple differences between the two treatments. The 2019 “Dark Waters: Murder in the Deep” episode entitled “Burned,” mixed talking heads with actor reenactments. The reenactments were a little cheesy because the actors were younger and, of course, better looking, but at least they had an actual Great Harbour trawler for the filming, even though it was a GH 47 instead of an actual 37. This year’s “Deadly Waters with Capt. Lee” episode “River of Fire” didn’t have much in the way of reenactments, but it did have Capt. Lee. I didn’t know anything about Capt. Lee until now. He was the “beloved” Capt. Lee Rosback of the “Below Decks” reality show until he was sidelined with a medical issue. Nothing against Lee—he is a salty old dude—but his commentary in between us talking heads seems like a distraction, at least during the episode in question. So, what is my beef with these dueling true-crime narratives? Neither thought it was worthwhile getting the murderer’s side of the story. Don’t get me wrong, David Trauger is no less a villain just because he acted out of love. For his boat, that is. He loved that trawler so much that he rather die than give it up. How do I know what Trauger may have been thinking? I asked Trauger’s lawyer. That’s why I was twice recruited to be a talking head; I had written stories about the case for Soundings and PassageMaker magazines. When you are trying to do journalism, your job is to get all sides of the story. Trauger may have been dead, having succesfully suicided-by-cop, but not before he had told his side of the story to Crystal Ferrier. Ferrier is an attorney in Brunswick, Georgia, just down the road from the scene of the crime, St. Marys. Neither show quoted Ferrier. If they had, they would have learned that she had scheduled a court date to ask a Georgia judge to nullify Trauger’s divorce from Karen Barnes based on fraud. Trauger never showed up for the August 14, 2012 hearing because there was really no need to. He had spent the night before murdering Barnes and her friend (and possible lover) Larry Ford. Prized PossessionOne thing that both shows agreed upon: Premium Time was insurance man David Trauger’s most prized possession. He also had a first ex-wife of 22 years that he owed $235,000. Ferrier said Trauger was terrified that she would try to collect by executing a lien on Premium Time, which Trauger had purchased for $558,000. The divorce from Karen, according to Ferrier, had been a sham, an ill-conceived scheme to put Premium Time beyond the first ex-wife’s reach. Trauger and Barnes would continue living together and then remarry sometime in the future, or so Trauger thought. Why this rings true:
Isn’t any of this worthy of mention in a serious conversation about the crime. Shouldn’t Trauger’s lawyer have been one of those talking heads? Barnes Plays Her HandIn early June 2012, Trauger left the boat and returned to his home state of Pennsylvania to conduct business in connection with his insurance companies. He was only away for a couple weeks. “He came back to the boat on Jekyll Island on the 22nd of June with wine and flowers in hand, and he found that the locks had been changed,” Ferrier said. Barnes had summoned a Georgia state trooper to tell Trauger he was not to go on the boat again. The trooper handed him a key to a storage locker where his personal possessions had been taken. Why might Karen Barnes have given Trauger the impression that she was collaborating with his idea for a sham divorce?
That would not have been a bad plan, but it failed because Barnes did not flee fast enough or far enough. She and Larry Ford, a marine installer and West Marine employee, helped pilot Premium Time only as far as St. Marys, Georgia, less than a full day of travel on the Intracoastal Waterway from the marina where Trauger had found himself locked out of “his” boat. Either they buddy-boated or took two trips because Ford’s boat ended up anchored at the same creek nearby Barnes’s boat. There was something else neither true-crime version mentioned: A fellow trawler owner and buddy of Trauger had stoked his rage in the weeks leading up to the murder, reinforcing the notion that Barnes had been a gold-digger all along. At one point, Trauger’s buddy shared with him a story he found on the Internet about how Karen Barnes had once been involved in some kind of grift in Kentucky. (After the murders, Loose Cannon, determined it had been a different woman named Karen Barnes.) In July and August 2012, Trauger tracked Barnes down. There was an incident at in WalMart. Karen tried to get a protective order, someone sabotaged of Premium Time’s steering. The TV people concentrated on this timeline stuff. As for that missed court date to undo the divorce, even Trauger’s lawyer said there was only a slim chance of prevailing. Ferrier said a Georgia judge was unlikely to look favorably on Trauger’s argument that Barnes had reneged on a contract with him—the sham divorce—when they aim of that contract was really a conspiracy to defraud Trauger’s previous ex-wife. Farrier said she only wished that Trauger had given her the chance to try to make the case. He Lost His MindHe had lost his wife. He had lost his boat. Then came the day, as I reported in a 2013 magazine piece, when Trauger lost his mind:
These were the kind of details that true-crime TV got right—the easy part. They entertain the viewer telling how it happened. They were far less interested in why it happened, except that David Trauger was a nasty, no-good villain of a man and Karen Barnes was a good, totally good woman. Her friends—and surely her family—will dispute my more nuanced interpretation, as they have in the past. They adhere to what I call “the St. Karen narrative.” In doing so, they fail to give Barnes enough credit. I see a woman who was engaged in an asymmetrical struggle against a monster who chose to use the best weapon she had—her wits. |
Harbour Town Yacht Basin, A CRUISERS NET SPONSOR, is ready for your reservation with newly renovated docks, upgraded electrical service and onSpot WiFi, also a CRUISERS NET SPONSOR. And, as always, numerous activities at the Sea Pines Resort are offered for your enjoyment, as you will see in the Event Schedule below. Hilton Head Island is absolutely marvelous any time of year.
Kerry Maveus
kmaveus@hunter-pr.com | www.hunter-pr.com
mobile: 831-917-2878
P.O. Box 1049 | Pebble Beach, CA | 93953
Elizabeth City sits at the southern terminus of the Dismal Swamp Canal and has the well-earned reputation of being a transient-friendly town with free dockage for 72 hours.
https://visitelizabethcity.com/
https://mail.google.com/mail/u/2/#inbox/FMfcgzQjgghCSRCXCbXWvzPPQLlWZfTl
The City of Gulfport and Gulfport Municipal Marina, A CRUISERS NET SPONSOR, always have a full calendar of events for all ages. The marina and harbor, found on the northern shores of Boca Ciega Bay, are easily accessible from the Western Florida ICW, just north of Tampa Bay.
| City of Gulfport Monday Newsletter |
Click Here To Open A Chart View Window, Zoomed To the Location of Gulfport Municipal Marina
Click Here To Open A Chart View Window Zoomed To the Location of Gulfport Anchorage/Mooring Field
Fred Pickhardt’s Substack is free today. But if you enjoyed this post, you can tell Fred Pickhardt’s Substack that their writing is valuable by pledging a future subscription. You won’t be charged unless they enable payments.![]()
A Gale Warning is in effect for parts of the southwestern North Atlantic due to a stationary front creating strong gale-force winds and high seas. Rough conditions are also impacing parts of the Bahamas and SE US coast. A stationary front extends from 31N 65W to 24N 79W. West of the front string to near gale winds (20–30 knots) with frequent gale-force gusts are causing rough to very rough seas and swells ranging from 4.0 to 5.5 meters (13-18 feet) (outside the Bahamas). Conditions are expected to continue for another 12-24 hours. Forensic Marine Weather Expert You’re currently a free subscriber to Fred Pickhardt’s Substack. For the full experience, upgrade your subscription. © 2026 Fred Pickhardt |
Cruisers Net publishes Loose Cannon articles with Captain Swanson’s permission in hopes that mariners with saltwater in their veins will subscribe. $7 per month or $56 for the year; you may cancel at any time.![]()
![]()
![]()
![]()
![]()
![]()
![]()
When all else fails, try journalism. The guy who was the kiss of death for Catalina Yachts—now back in business—was a financial mess, according to his personal bankruptcy filing. Michael Alexander Reardon filed for Chapter 7 liquidation late last month, declaring $3.28 million in unsecured liabilities against assets worth $574,000. According to the September 30 petition, Reardon’s personal debt includes $866,953 in combined credit card and merchant cash advance (MCA) obligations, including related revenue-based financing and personal guarantees. MCA debt is an obligation a business incurs after receiving an upfront lump-sum cash advance in exchange for a percentage of future sales. Legally, an MCA is structured as a purchase of future receivables rather than a traditional loan. That structure allows MCAs to bypass conventional banking regulations and state usury laws. The largest individual creditor on the list is Catalina Yachts Inc., with a claim of $1.78 million representing about 54 percent of all reported unsecured debt. In April 2025 Reardon entered into a purchase agreement with the California parent company of Catalina Yachts in Largo Florida which required him to make regular payments. In July, a state court in Pinellas County Florida awarded that amount to California Catalina in what was framed as a landlord-tenant lawsuit. Defendant Reardon was a no-show. Reardon reported 100 percent ownership interests in five boatbuilding entities, each assigned a value of zero dollars in his personal bankruptcy schedules. Besides Catalina, the most familiar of these was Tartan Yachts, which Reardon acquired in September 2025. The factory reportedly had to shut down for a brief period. In January, after Reardon had presided over the demise of Catalina, the owner of Tartan’s rigging partner, Great Lakes Rigging and Supply, came to the rescue and acquired Tartan, which continues to build boats at its Ohio factory. The remaining three entitities center around Group Holdings, which spent a few years building a single carbon fiber at a factory in Edenton, North Carolina. Daedalus shut down operations in August 2025, as Reardon’s business partner and buyer for the only boat ever begun, had the unfinished hull shipped to Europe for completion and put the factory building up for sale.
Reardon also reported a declining income as the above events were transpiring—$186,000 in 2024, $124,000 in 2025 and $74,000 so far this year. Reardon’s petition listed two personal boats as assets and priced for liquidation. One is Little One, a 1969 Chesapeake Bay wooden crabber valued at $2,500. The other is a 1966 83-foot steel boat designed by Goudy & Stevens and valued at $7,000. He is listed as owing $8,000 to Edenton Marina. Reardon also owes more than $15,000 to a couple who worked for him at Catalina. David and Madeline Cayce had obtained a court judgement against him for unpaid wages with the help of the Pinellas County Office of Human Rights. |
The other two, well, I’m intimately familiar, as are most of us. The other two knocked my feet out from under me this week—my wonderful PA took a skin biopsy which turned out to be positive for what we didn’t want, as so often happens. I carry the BRCA2 genetic mutation which indicates a stunning array of cancer, predominantly breast and ovarian. (Not looking for sympathy here, since we’re all friends I’m just sharing my world.) She referred me to a local general surgeon, who offered on-the-spot surgical removal at my consultation. No caution required! Hey, what’s a couple more inches of scar on this girl? Doesn’t matter in the least. Surgeon and lovely Nurse Practitioner efficiently removed said cancer. One hour consult-surgery combo. Boom. Caution? None. I say get rid of that stuff just as fast as you can! If you don’t already know, I opted for immediate preventive double mastectomy and hysterectomy as soon as I discovered that gene. Brutal legacy on my maternal side. Maybe that is caution. Or fear. I came home, laid down with my new stitches and just the beginnings of a little cold. Boom, this body said, reset and simply took me down and out. Never experienced anything quite like it, honestly. I’ve been worthless for three days, melted into the mattress in such a way that I can hardly move, must less function. Have you felt that? Whoa. Was it the stress of the C word? (not the shocking one, the terrifying one). Yep. Absolutely. My third time with Squamous Cell Carcinoma, hoping it’s a charm. In a good way. I’ve had enough; it’s what took my Grandma Pearl after a long tough fight. So many have battled! We can’t cure the common cold, or even make it much less miserable, so, while I know there are advances in treatment, I hesitate to see how we’ll stop cancer; and let’s not get into the awful conspiracy theories that involve greed. And that’s enough of that!The proceeding paragraphs are my (reasonable, lengthy) excuse for offering up two pieces from the archives rather than fresh, fabulous reading material this week. Here are a couple SPARRING stories that I truly hope you’ll enjoy. Settle in. A TURTLE TALE. That happens to be about caution. “His expression told me, very clearly, that I hadn’t learned enough respect, yet. With a distinctive sense of something forever altered, I understood and gazed disappointedly after the dark, descending loggerhead. Was it caution that I had gained in addition to understanding?” READ ON….
A STORY OF OTHER ENDANGERED THINGS, and how we eventually lose them. “In all the time STEADFAST has been here, no birds of prey have chosen our spreaders. That fact hadn’t dawned on me until the osprey appeared and that chapter of my life was re-opened. I stopped at the bottom of the ladder, glancing up to confirm the unexpected silhouette. It was gone.” READ ON…
Until next week, thanks for staying aboard through the crests and troughs of life! ~J It’s Breast Cancer Awareness month here in the US. I wrote my first self-published book about choosing preventive surgeries. Just for fun, I call my rebuilt breasts “The New Girls”, and that is the title of the Memoir. You can see more of my work here on my website. Get on there! Share SPARRING WITH MOTHER NATURE
© 2026 Janice Anne Wheeler |
Fred Pickhardt’s Substack is free today. But if you enjoyed this post, you can tell Fred Pickhardt’s Substack that their writing is valuable by pledging a future subscription. You won’t be charged unless they enable payments.![]()
Dangerous marine and coastal conditions are impacting the Southwest North Atlantic, the Bahamas, and the southeast U.S. coast due to a combination of strong high pressure to the north and a stationary front. Strong to gale-force northeast-to-east winds are causing hazardous seas up to 20 feet along and north of the front, which stretches from 31N 56W through the northwest Bahamas and into the Florida Straits. Gale Warnings are active for all Georgia and Florida Atlantic waters due to northeast winds of 25 to 35 knots, gusts up to 40 knots, and 9-to-15-foot seas. In addition, there are Coastal Flood Warnings for moderate to major tidal flooding worsened by seasonal King Tides, a High Surf Advisory for 7-to-11-foot breaking waves and severe beach erosion, and a high risk of life-threatening rip currents. Fresh to strong winds and heavy northeast swells are forecast to persist through mid-week. Forensic Marine Weather Expert NOAA National Hurricane Center NOAA US Coastal Waters Forecasts
You’re currently a free subscriber to Fred Pickhardt’s Substack. For the full experience, upgrade your subscription. © 2026 Fred Pickhardt |
Be the first to comment!