Not wanting to be gross but?

[thefairlaneman]

Does anyone care to share their reports of any bad boat accidents they recall. Maybe It will help some to be more careful on the water next spring. I recall the boat with 4 or 5 on board that forgot the old bridge supports were still there as they high speeded under the new bridge right beside them. 3 killed when they hit the supports (cement) head on in the dark.

 

[aspeck]

Re: Not wanting to be gross but?

I lost a friend in a boating accident - a drunk with no lights on ran over them in a cuddy cruiser. One friend dead, another severally injured. A very sad night.

Also had a friend's dad that was killed when a bowrider ran over his bass boat - both were under power. The prop of the bowrider road up the back of my friend's dads back and neck. I was working at the marina at the time when he was pulled in and tried to do CPR on him, but the air was bubbling out the back of his neck ... not a pretty sight.

Had an aquaintance for the lake run his boat aground driving too fast at night. He was very familiar with the lake and knew the turns well, but this night he did not see them - he, his wife, and 10 year old daughter who was asleep in the cuddy cabin at the time were all killed.

Was working the gas docks when people would not run their bilge blowers. Had a some boats catch fire at the gas dock. Got one out, one burnt to the water level, and one guy in a jet boat decided to put his friends fire out by raising his jet and using it like a fire hose ... idiot pushed the boat right back into the gas dock! We did extinquish that one with fire extinquishers.

Please be careful when you are boating - it can be dangerous.

So, please be careful out there!

 

[SS MAYFLOAT]

Re: Not wanting to be gross but?

Buds and I witnessed one of those 30 some foot cig boats hit some dock pilings one night.

We were fishing in a no wake zone just on the north side of the channel. This area has a 90 degree bend in the river. On the Portage river and returning to lake Erie it is a no wake zone from a cantilever railroad bridge to the lake. This section is about 1/2 mile long.

As we sat fishing, we could hear this boat coming down the river. It got to the bridge and throttled back. After he passed under the bridge and cleared it, he throttled back to WOT. Instead of him passing us in the channel, he decided to go around us where there wasn't a channel. In the area he was headed for was a bunch of old docks/pilings that was abandoned due to silt/mud build up. Water was only about 2 to 3 feet deep in that area.

As we watched, his boat went between two of the pilings and then hit the land barrier which was covered with large chunks of limestone. His bow went up in the air about 30', engines died, women screaming, and him screaming for them to shut up. The boat then slid back into the water. We could see him raising the engine covers and then close them. Guess he was checking to see if water came in. While things were quiet, a man from shore hollered if things were okay. The operator of the boat screamed some vulgar words at him and told him to mind his own business. We could hear the women crying from being scared to death.

He eventually got his engines fired back up and got his boat out of the maze of pilings. He then idled around us 2 times. It seems as if he was blaming us for being in the channel in which we were not. I shinned my spotlight on each of the channel markers to show him where they were and finally he realized how he screwed up.

This guy had the name of his boat painted on each side of his boat. It was "Ripped II". Made us wonder what happened to the first Ripped? After hearing his loud boat go through the no wake zone to the lake, we could hear him going to WOT as soon as he got to the lake. What an idiot. I'm sure there had to be some hull damage from the rocks he hit. That was about 15 years ago. I wonder if he is in Ripped X by now.

Its bad when someone has an accident like that and is a complete idiot on handling it. Wished I had a VHF to call the guard at that time. As daylight came, we could see where he had gone. Apparently he lost his coolers and his empty beer cans or he tossed them out as not to get busted for DUI. That night will always stick out in my mind how close it can be from a nice fishing night to a rescue mission. Drinking and operating a boat is a sure sign of a disaster waiting to happen. Probably why I have 35 years of accident free boating.

 

[mudmagnet63]

Re: Not wanting to be gross but?

in 1982 @ 18 yrs old I met a man at the dock DR. Barrett. He had a brand new bass boat biggest motor you could buy. About mid summer he discovered what he called a BAT TURN. WOT Crank the wheel Spin around, Motor screaming, everone on board screaming. I thought man I wish dads boat could do that. Late summer BAT TURNS are being done within 20 - 30 yards of the dam. Boat ends up about 40' up on rocks no one dead but all hospitalized with Lot's of stitches. Good lesson for an 18 year old kid.

 

[PW2]

Re: Not wanting to be gross but?

I lost a neighbor a few years back in Newhalem Bay on the Oregon Coast.

It was high tide when he went over the bar of the river and into the ocean, with gentle ocean rollers coming in. No change in the weather, but it was low tide when he attempted to return, and those gentle ocean rollers were now breaking waves that were standing straight up and down. His 19ft boat capsized, and he didn't make it.

 

[Bass Man Bruce]

Re: Not wanting to be gross but?

Ludington Mich has a harbor with two breakwaters that go out about half a mile. The north breakwall is about ten feet tall. I didn't see them hit it but saw a 24' (approx) bayliner on top of the pier. Hull beat up pretty bad and blood on the pier.
Later read that the pilot was arrested for dui.
No fatalities, thank God.
This happens several times each year.

 

[DJ]

Re: Not wanting to be gross but?

I watched two guys at the gas dock with about a 30' Bertram. Just after they filled up, the guy on the fly bridge hit the key and BOOM!

The other guy was standing on the engine hatch and he took a 30' ride straight up in the air. He landed behind the boat and was able to swim, after some confusion, to the adjacent boat ramp. He was lucky, all he had was a broken ankle.

The boat didn't burn. It seems the explosion snuffed the major flame and the guy on the bridge was able to control the rest with an extinguisher.

 

[tashasdaddy]

Re: Not wanting to be gross but?

this happened yesterday. guy was refueling his motor on a sail boat while under way, went over, still missing. luckily the wife knew how to read the GPS, and turned the boat around, and anchored. here's the report:

"By Jessica Clark
First Coast News

CLAY COUNTY, FL -- The search for a missing boater in the Saint Johns River is no longer a search and rescue mission.

Lt. George Pottorf tells First Coast News it is now a recovery effort.

27-year-old Cesar Martin Montano from Miami was not wearing a life vest when he went overboard in the river Friday.

An air and water search began Friday around 9 a.m. when a woman called for help from a sailboat.

She told authorities her husband fell overboard while trying to fill up a gas can.

Authorities located her a few miles south of the Shands Bridge in the sailboat. Crews also recovered a gas can, but the 27-year-old man has not been found."

 

[SS MAYFLOAT]

Re: Not wanting to be gross but?

this happened yesterday. guy was refueling his motor on a sail boat while under way, went over, still missing. luckily the wife knew how to read the GPS, and turned the boat around, and anchored. here's the report:

"By Jessica Clark
First Coast News

CLAY COUNTY, FL -- The search for a missing boater in the Saint Johns River is no longer a search and rescue mission.

Lt. George Pottorf tells First Coast News it is now a recovery effort.

27-year-old Cesar Martin Montano from Miami was not wearing a life vest when he went overboard in the river Friday.

An air and water search began Friday around 9 a.m. when a woman called for help from a sailboat.

She told authorities her husband fell overboard while trying to fill up a gas can.

Authorities located her a few miles south of the Shands Bridge in the sailboat. Crews also recovered a gas can, but the 27-year-old man has not been found."

My guess where he is at is in your signature TD

 

[waterinthefuel]

Re: Not wanting to be gross but?

The only accident I know of was a simple jon boat with a 25horse engine was cruising through the lake with two people in it when it hit a tree in the lake, head on. The people were thrown overboard and the boat continued in a circle, wide open.

I never knew what happened to the people.

I know you guys don't want a lecture, but my job is fuel and fuel safety. A single cup (8 ounces) of gasoline has the same explosive power as a stick of dynamite. Please respect gasoline and it's vapors. When they say a well ventilated area, they aren't kidding. It's not so you can get fresh air while you fuel! Fuel is so dangerous when mishandled it can't even be put into words.

About that boat that blew up when he hit the switch, a mechanic at my facility was working on a plane that had a fuel leak. He climbed in, flipped on the master (electronic) switch and BOOM, blew the twin engine airplane into 3 pieces, the tail, the fuselage, and the nose. Luckily, it just burnt the hair off of his legs and what tiny amount had been on his head. N5152J, RIP little plane. That was the only twin engine piston airplane I'd ever flown in.

 

[woodrat]

Re: Not wanting to be gross but?

Last summer there was a fatal accident just downstream from the Megler Bridge across the Columbia River at Astoria. Popular sturgeon and salmon fishing area, and also home to some of the most dangerous waters in the country. Guys were setting the anchor on their 19' boat in a fairly strong ebb. Somehow in the process of letting the line out, it got tangled and caught on the transom. Boat swung around backwards to the current and immediately swamped and sank. One dead, two rescued, all on a sunny day in June.

 

[thefairlaneman]

Re: Not wanting to be gross but?

Let me add just 2 more horror storys. Both at places I have used. One fellow while trying to line his boat up on the trailor to come out steped into a hole and drowned. (I had used the same landing for the first time just that afternoon, Another one was near a marina and somehow a guy in a small outboard fell out and the boat kept going. I think you can guess that the boat started making circles and there was nothing he could do but wait till the prop hit him.he died. I anchored on a shoal once and the water under my boat was only about 3 feet. I jumped out not knowing there was a very deep and sharp drop off not 2 feet away and I did get a surprise, but I had on my life jacket which most likely saved me....Im not a very good swimmer,plus those were the days when I liked to drink.......not now,quit cold turkey 8 years ago.

 

[wildmaninal]

Re: Not wanting to be gross but?

Another one was near a marina and somehow a guy in a small outboard fell out and the boat kept going. I think you can guess that the boat started making circles and there was nothing he could do but wait till the prop hit him.he died.

One of my cousins had an aluminum jon boat with a small old outboard on it and he fell out after cranking the motor up in gear. It might of been one of them old outboard that didn't have a gear shift to it I can't remember. The boat started doing circles, all he did was waited for the opportunity to throw his arm up over the side of the boat and work his way in. He is not a very big man so the weight he added to the side of the boat wasn't much trust me.

 

[ziggy]

Re: Not wanting to be gross but?

mines more a sht, but i'll share anyways. it's not even about a boat.....

it was a 95 sts kawasaki jet ski.

i'm retrieveing and the ramp is empty. there's two docks. 4 ramps. i'm on the inside of one of the docks. i pull my tow vehical down to the other inside ramp....gonna just make a nice turn i drive onto my trailer.....so. ya know, they tell ya to put on yer lanyard, everytime. well, gee, i'm only going from one dock to the other. who needs to be connected. me that's who. i cracked the finger type throttle to make my turn to go to the other ramp and the loose end of the lanyard fell into the gap between the throttle and the throttle stop. thereby leaveing me at about half throttle. at the dock. with no way to throttle down. jetskis need thrust to turn ya know. so i turn smash the back of the ski into a dock pipe. new i'm heading towards my trailer at half throttle, only a few feet from the trailer, gonna go right over it. my son is between the trailer and the tow vehical. i give more throttle and make my turn back out to sea in inches of water on the ramps edge. easy to figure what happened. just take the lanyard out of the throttle.....but man. it could have been much worse. like runnin up my trailer into my kid. in the end it had a hole in the side of the ski about the size yer hand from contact with the dock pipe. only $750 to fix the hole.... and a lesson learned.... i do hope that my dummy idea helps someone else. puting the lanyard on is just to easy compared to the consiquenses. i'd have never though of that happening either.....i got lucky....

 

[wildmaninal]

Re: Not wanting to be gross but?

I can't remember what pro fisherman it was I wanna say it was Bill Dance. I was told that a couple of years back when they had a bass tournament here in North Alabama one of the pros I believe Bill Dance was showing off in his boat by doing donuts (like some people do on their seadoos to throw a rooster tail).

Anyhow he came close to shore when doing this stupid stunt and ended up hitting an old pear pole that was just barely under water and busted a hole in the hull of the boat. Nobody was injured. He made a phone call when he was still on the sinking boat and had a dealer or sponsor bring him another boat out within an hours time. Must be nice to have that kind of power or have somebody cover for your screw ups. Have you ever seen his bloopers, in some of his bloopers he gets really upset, I would hate to be the one to make him mad. I use to enjoy watching his shows though.

 

[achris]

Re: Not wanting to be gross but?

We've had a few over the last couple of years.

1. On a Friday evening a family of 4 headed for one of our offshore islands, about 12 mile from the port, for the weekend. The weather was quite rough, they made about 8 miles. The mother was found a few days later clinging to some rocks in the middle of the sea. the rest of her family was dead.

2. Another family had been disorientated during the day and in the afternoon decided to head home. Without a compass on board they decided to 'follow the sun'. Doesn't work when you're on a west coast. Recuse boats found them over 30 miles out to sea. They would have made Africa if they hadn't run out of fuel.

3. Group of teenagers out in daddy's boat on the river at night. Traveling too fast slammed into a pile. Killed one and injured the rest.

Please be careful out there. The sea offers no favours for the stupid.

Chris.............

 

[OldMercsRule]

Re: Not wanting to be gross but?

Over the years we have had 20 boats or so run up on RR island or the smaller island in front of RR island, (most at night), but some during the day.

It can be very dark up there at night, and runnin' hard at night in a dark lake with islands in it can be real hard on the ol' boat if yer not payin' attention n' cornsumin' adult beverages doesn't help a lot (day or night).

Some people have had minor injuries (I don't think anyone has been hurt real bad), kinda tough on their boats though.

I saw a boat hit some rocks off the East end of RR island in daytime the boat exploded into pieces and the people in the boat were OK.

JR

 

[dolluper]

Re: Not wanting to be gross but?

Hit the water once at 140mph in the hydro ,flipped across the scim about 20 times before sucking in water So that's what I remember

 

[oops!]

Re: Not wanting to be gross but?

Lake Okanagan.
British Columbia, Canada

45 or so youths climb onto a 50 foot house boat for a birthday party.
the captain of the vessel greets the passengers with a beer in his hand.

while on the top deck, singing "happy birthday" to the guest of honor.
the boat capsizes. a girl was trapped in the bathroom....died.

same lake.....
an NHLer was sitting on the bow of a go fast boat. hit a wake, went overboard. prop got him....

Lake Kalamalka
British Columbia, Canada

my girl and i are puttin out for an evening on the water. I see my best buddies boat launchin. its not him. so i call him,
he says he sold the boat to his nephew.
we chat....there smokin dope...drinkin beer....3 of em.....
apperantly. they went cliff diving....one of them hit the boat from 65 feet....
head first....they had to bring him in .....dead


a captain of the boat is responcible for all the souls on board.
some times this makes him seem like a jerk.
but even a child is judged by his actions.

we as "captains" must play it safe, all the time. if this means sit down when the boat is moving, the worst is asking them to wear a life jacket!!!

 

[Nandy]

Re: Not wanting to be gross but?

RR island? What is the full name and where is it?
Thanks...