Close Call at Night

[geezlouise]

My wife and I were out on the lake Saturday night. The weather was clear with a big moon, very light breeze and warm. It was about 11pm and we were cruising along about 20 mph...just beyond planing speed. We are on Lake Ray Hubbard east of Dallas, TX. The lake is aproximately 21,000 acres and is bordered by the town of Rockwall, TX on the eastern shorline. There are lots of lights from the shops and neighborhoods...right down to the waterline. We're are heading across the lake, toward the brightly lighted shoreline when my wife asks me if I see the sailboat at about two o'clock to our heading and 200 yards away. "Yeah, I see him...we got plenty of room." ...and we did cause he was moving to the right, away from our path. The problem was the boat I didn't see...a dark green SeaDoo jet boat, parked dead in the water, stern facing me. His stern light blended in with the lights on the shoreline and he was virtually invisible until I was nearly in his back seat. Fortunately I was not running fast, saw him with about 50 yards between us and was able to make a pretty solid left-hand turn and avoid him. As I cruised by it was obvious the folks in the boat never heard me approaching and only saw me when I was beside them. I figure they were listening to music cause surely, if they had seen me before I saw them they would have done something...jump, wave, scream or crank up and go. Anyway...alls well that ends well but I learned something about lights.

 

[Bob_VT]

Re: Close Call at Night

Here is a C & P from my local paper last week ..... this is the closest lake to me! Just plain old stupid stuff!

Boats crash on lake

July 7, 2008

By Dawson Raspuzzi Herald Staff

A neighborhood effort helped rescue three people from Lake Bomoseen after two boats collided Saturday evening.

The crash resulted in three people from one boat being transported to Rutland Regional Medical Center, where police said they were all in good condition later that night.

The names of the individuals involved in the accident south of Neshobe Island are not being released pending further police investigation, said Castleton police officer Sherry McDermott, who responded to the 911 call around 10 p.m.

By the time police from Castleton, Fair Haven and Vermont State Police Auxiliary arrived on the scene neighbors were towing the sinking boat with the three injured passengers to shore, speaking with 911 dispatchers and administering first aid to two boaters with head injuries.

Residents near Avalon Beach heard the two boats collide, followed by screams for help, causing a half-dozen citizens to get in their boats with docking lights and spotlights guiding the way until they reached the crash site, where one boat was quickly taking in water.

The neighbors attached ropes to one of their boats and the sinking boat and pulled it to shore before it completely sank.

McDermott said the two boats were traveling toward each other and the drivers of the boats didn't see one another until it was too late.

Once the boat with three individuals saw the other boat, which had just one person, the driver attempted to swerve to the side but couldn't avoid contact. The impact caused a crack "about the size of a basketball" on the exterior of the boat near where the driver sits on the right while the single-passenger boat had damage in a rear side portion, McDermott said.

McDermott said the three individuals on the boat that needed to be hauled ashore were all treated at the Rutland hospital. Two of the injured passengers were treated for head injuries, one of which required stitches, she said.

McDermott spoke with the individuals later in the evening at the hospital and said all were communicating and appeared to be doing well.

On the same boat were two pugs, that McDermott said a neighbor took into her home and cared for over the night. Neither were injured

McDermott credited all of the neighbors for assisting on the scene and possibly saving some lives.

"The boat probably could have sank in Bomoseen if there were no boats on the water," McDermott said. "It was taking on a lot of water."

Because the neighbors with boats in the water are often the first to react and are most accessible to the lake, McDermott said their help is always crucial with boating accidents. "Any place on the lake we pretty much rely on neighbors," she said.

One of the residents who responded on a boat was Dan Moe, who was outside at a barbeque shooting off fireworks with friends at the time of the accident.

"When we heard someone needed help there were no questions asked, we just jumped into action," Moe said. "If we waited another 10 or 15 minutes I don't know if we could have gotten the boat out of the water."

Moe and other neighbors helped pull the sinking boat ashore as the water level continued to rise inside the boat.

"The boat was sinking already when we got there. It had about 12 inches of water in it," Moe said.

While Moe guided the boat, neighbor Christine Turgeon, a registered nurse, administered first aid to the injured individuals and spoke to 911 dispatchers.

"I gave them our position and how many injuries there were and where we'd meet them," Turgeon said.

It took about 15 to 20 minutes for neighbors to pull the boat to a docking space on the western part of the lake referred to as Green Dump, where police and medical personnel were waiting on the shore to take over.

Moe said by the time they got the boat ashore water was less than a foot from the top of the boat, which was close to sinking.

The experience and rescue efforts are something Turgeon said she'd never forget. "The blood-curling screams coming from the darkness ? it was an unforgettable cry for help."

Both Turgeon and Moe said the rescue is just another example of a close community helping others when they need it.

"If they are going to have that kind of bad luck they picked a good position to do it," Turgeon said. "These are the kind of neighbors who would always help and never turn their back on anyone."

 

[bhammer]

Re: Close Call at Night

geez, boated on that lake many times and you are right that it can play tricks on your eyes. Good thing it turned out the way it did. The way I do my boating now is that I never head direct into them, I try to take angle routes to the shore, that way it will be a bit eaiser to see a light that isn't on the shore. Sometimes that just doesn't work becasue of all the houses so I just slow down even more. I cary a big lamp now too that I can plug in and look in front of me but save that for when I am th only guy moving on the lake.


I've had my fair share of close calls, one of them on Lavon while fishing. Had a guy that had no lights and it was clear with no moon. We were moving about 10 and got within 10 yards of this guy before we saw him.

 

[ziggy]

Re: Close Call at Night

well, i feel better now.... sorta... as i had a similar experience on july 4 this year.... i'm not a practiced night boater. i've done it many times. but not much in recent history. anyways. i agree. a white stern light blends into the lights on the shoreline. myself. i was only puttin (1k-1200) accross the lake round abouts midnight. 3% visible moon that night, so quite dark out. thought i was looking at a light on the shoreline.... it wasn't. it was the stern of a speedboat most likely at anchor, as i never saw the bow lights. or could be, his bow lights just weren't on, makes no difference though. i got close enough to see the boat + people onboard before i turned hard to starborard to miss him. it wasn't a close call as i was going pretty slow. but sure did wake me up to what i'm not seeing (or what i think i was seeing) at night. after thinking about the almost incident. i've decided that any light i see, i will not go straight for that light. + the spot light will be on hand (it was that night too) and used if i wonder at all what it is i am seeing.....

same night i also saw a boat with a red bow light on the starboard side. the boat was crossing in front of me. my port to my starboard... saw white + red.... i don't think that's how it's supposed to be and had to do a double take look at it to confirm what i thought i was seeing........ i think ya should take nothing for granted while boating at night. much more dangerous than day boating....

 

[Limited-Time]

Re: Close Call at Night

Our lake has little night traffic. Still I seldom cruise at above an idle after sundown, just for safety's sake.

 

[mike64]

Re: Close Call at Night

Our lake has little night traffic. Still I seldom curse at above an idle after sundown, just for safety's sake.

LT, you must use some powerful curse words, if it's a safety issue

Haven't done any night boating yet. Don't know if I will any time soon. Lack of visibility + more drunken boaters + boaters thinking they can go as fast as during the day = bad news. It was big news a couple months ago around here when several people were killed on Lake St. Clair when they hit a stationary dredging barge at high speed. Differing stories as to whether the barge had warning lights or not, but it was probably a similar thing, where the barge light blended in with horizon lights. No alcohol was involved, surviving driver was not charged with any crime.

 

[Limited-Time]

Re: Close Call at Night

LT, you must use some powerful curse words, if it's a safety issue

Haven't done any night boating yet. Don't know if I will any time soon. Lack of visibility + more drunken boaters + boaters thinking they can go as fast as during the day = bad news. It was big news a couple months ago around here when several people were killed on Lake St. Clair when they hit a stationery dredging barge at high speed. Differing stories as to whether the barge had warning lights or not, but it was probably a similar thing, where the barge light blended in with horizon lights. No alcohol was involved, surviving driver was not charged with any crime.

:redface: I don't want to offend any one after dark.....:redface: But if the sun's up LOOK OUT...............

 

[SS MAYFLOAT]

Re: Close Call at Night

Cruising at night time is like driving a car with a blindfold on. It might work for a short distance,,,,,,but your luck is going to run out. It might not be a boat that is in the way, but it could be that log that is 90% submerged! Now that is even hard to see in full daylight let alone at dark...........SS

 

[tommays]

Re: Close Call at Night

Well

We do it all the time on the sailboat as the races generaly end after dark you must have someone on the bow and be well prepared in the navagition area


Are 34 mile race on Sat did not finish until 20:50 and we were still 7 miles from the mooring BUT i have a GPS route preset and all the compass headings just in case it fails


If all goes well we be on a 200 mile race next week which will start on thurs the 31 in the afternoon and hopefully ends sat in the daylight, still short on crew so it is up in the air

 

[jay_merrill]

Re: Close Call at Night

In the right environment, boating can be done at night in a reasonably safe manner. One of the keys to doing so is to go slow!

Another tip is to protect your "night vision." It takes the human eye about 30 minutes in a dark environment, to fully adapt to the low light conditions. If you turn on a bright light after this has happened, it will take another 30 minutes to regain optimal night vision. For this reason, it is recommeded that red lighting be used to examine charts, etc., when boating at night.

If you allow your eyes to fully adapt to low light, and operate your boat very slowly, you might be surprised at what you can see in the water. You can also see unlit boats better than you might expect. The one uncontrollable variable, however, is what they other guy is doing, so I can certainly understand the logic of those who just don't want to operate at night.

One other thing that struck me about this thread, is the article about the folks who rescued people after a collision. If I read it correctly, some people were brought back to shore, and further medical attention, while towing a disabled and sinking boat. As one who does SAR, and sometimes sees the very negative results of boating related injuries, that is something that I do not recommend. The boat is replaceable and greatly complicates the situation. It would have been a much better idea to either let someone else tow it, or to simply tie a PFD or floating cushion to a long line and let the boat go. It might have even been advisable to do nothing with the boat and simply let it sink as it was.

By trying to both bring injured people to shore, and save the boat as well, the time need to get the injured to proper medical attention was increased by a large margin. Since ther were head injuries in this case, that could have been a very disasterous situation - save the people first and worry about the boat later!

 

[SS MAYFLOAT]

Re: Close Call at Night

Mythbusters did a show on pirates and eye patches. As the pirate would go below deck where it was dark, the pirate would move the patch from one eye to the other. This technique allowed them to go from light to dark as to see better below decks. I think the myth was confirmed.

 

[TwoBallScrewBall]

Re: Close Call at Night

Yes I saw that too and the myth held true, the eye with the patch over it never lost it's night vision. We should all wear eye patches at night.

 

[Windykid]

Re: Close Call at Night

In the military we were trained to close our non firing eye, when a flare went up or any bright light so we maintained night vision to lay on target.

 

[texanaustinite]

Re: Close Call at Night

One of the restaurants on Lake Travis, Carlos' n Charlie's, has a great fireworks display every July 3rd. We decided to go this year to see the display from the water. It was late starting, about 10:30pm, but once it did, it was spectacular.

There were easily a few hundred boats on the lake that night and a few party barges, quite a sight. No accidents that I'm aware of, nothing on the news anyway.

After the fireworks, I was pleasantly surprised at how orderly most of the boaters made their way back to the docks. I say "most" because there were a few idiots who were gunning it like it was 11:00am instead of 11:00pm and only a handful of patrol boats.

Going back the docks was a bit nerve wracking, but not too bad. We just followed the line of lights heading back to the ramp. At one point I did get a bit off course and traveled on the wrong side of some shallow water buoys. Didn't realize it until my daughter, who was sitting in the bow, noticed some branches sticking out of the water. Trimmed up quickly and and got back on course.

Anyway, got off track there. Just amazed there were no incidents.

Safe boating!

 

[OldePharte]

Re: Close Call at Night

A week ago Saturday we had:

"Lake of the Ozarks, Mo. -
Driver inattention may be blamed as a major factor in a two-boat collision that occurred Saturday night.
One person was seriously injured when a 27-foot Fountain and a 29-foot Envision collided near the 10.5-mile marker. The impact of the collision caused the Fountain to go up and over the Envision, throwing the driver and three passengers into the lake. Passing boaters apparently stopped to assist.
The Fountain sank in about 65 feet of water. ( lower drive unit was torn off)
According to Captain Matt Walz, charges have not been ruled out but will depend on the outcome of the investigation.
So far, evidence indicates the night-time running lights on both boats were on and excessive speed doesn?t appear to be a factor, he said. The drivers of the Fountain and the Envision told officers they didn?t see the other approaching boat in time to turn."

The scary part is that we have a night-time speed limit of 30mph.

And yes, we have several fireworks shows over the major holidays and when over, better get the he11 out of the way.

And, we have water patrol sitting in the main channel, at night, with their lights off to catch DUI boaters.

 

[zach103]

Re: Close Call at Night

i dont see the need to go that fast at night. . its always fun to go fast. but in the daytime when you can see everyone... i always thought that boating at night was either fishing or a casual driving just to relax and enjoy the night

 

[OldePharte]

Re: Close Call at Night

I don't dive at night any faster than I want to hit an object. Then only during a full moon and clear skies. Obviously, I don't go out at night much anymore.

Years ago, before the lake got a lot of shoreline development, we would head upstream 10 miles to watch the local water ski show. Since the parental units liked to drink, I drove back (in my early teens) which was about midnight. A little tricky until one got to know the local landmarks, and I'll admit, I missed a turn once and wound up in the back of a large cove when I missed the main channel turn.

Anyway, one night we noticed a bunch of lights that we hadn't seen before. I was ordered to get closer to see what it was. As I got closer we noticed that it was a local cruise boat (three stories and made out of a barge) returning from a dinner/dance cruise. We never saw it the previous 10 or so trips.

They waved, we waved and all was good until . . . Seems that sucker put out a huge wake. Our little runabout went down the first trough and the nose hit about midway up the wake. Hit it 3 more times. Everyone drenched, the boat a quarter full of water, and the parents laughing so hard they were crying. I don't know if they heard me cuss or not.

I learned an easy lesson that night. Of course nowadays, the issue is huge cruisers who can't see 100 feet in front of them and most don't care.

 

[DaNinja]

Re: Close Call at Night

One of the restaurants on Lake Travis, Carlos' n Charlie's, has a great fireworks display every July 3rd. We decided to go this year to see the display from the water. It was late starting, about 10:30pm, but once it did, it was spectacular.

There were easily a few hundred boats on the lake that night and a few party barges, quite a sight. No accidents that I'm aware of, nothing on the news anyway.

After the fireworks, I was pleasantly surprised at how orderly most of the boaters made their way back to the docks. I say "most" because there were a few idiots who were gunning it like it was 11:00am instead of 11:00pm and only a handful of patrol boats.

Going back the docks was a bit nerve wracking, but not too bad. We just followed the line of lights heading back to the ramp. At one point I did get a bit off course and traveled on the wrong side of some shallow water buoys. Didn't realize it until my daughter, who was sitting in the bow, noticed some branches sticking out of the water. Trimmed up quickly and and got back on course.

Anyway, got off track there. Just amazed there were no incidents.

Safe boating!

I don't think you were off track in a discussion about night boating.

I had an almost identical experience on Lake Travis.
We left Carlos and Charlies around 1:00 am after a Memorial Day concert (Fabulous Thunderbirds). I was driving the "not yet mine" SeaRay. I was pretty nervous as we/I negotiated the traffic.

Once I got into open water I decided that if I followed behind another boat that I wouldn't hit anything on the way back to the house. Great plan. I settled back a ways following a similar sized boat up the lake.

I was getting more comfortable to the point that I was pretty well on plane. About this time the boat ahead of me began a starboard turn around (I think) Point Venture. I began to turn as well.

The problem was that I hadn't cleared the point yet as I was about two football fields behind the other boat. I was just turning with his lights.

The next thing I heard was the (then) current owner yell "TREES". I throttled back hard and trimmed up fast as I looked at the field of fenceposts around us!

With my heart pounding and my fingers tingling from the adrenalin, We negotiated our way back to open waters and, after a couple of deep breaths, SLOWLY made our way back to the dock.

 

[DaNinja]

Re: Close Call at Night

A week ago Saturday we had:

"Lake of the Ozarks, Mo. -
Driver inattention may be blamed as a major factor in a two-boat collision that occurred Saturday night.
One person was seriously injured when a 27-foot Fountain and a 29-foot Envision collided near the 10.5-mile marker. The impact of the collision caused the Fountain to go up and over the Envision, throwing the driver and three passengers into the lake. Passing boaters apparently stopped to assist.
The Fountain sank in about 65 feet of water. ( lower drive unit was torn off)
According to Captain Matt Walz, charges have not been ruled out but will depend on the outcome of the investigation.
So far, evidence indicates the night-time running lights on both boats were on and excessive speed doesn?t appear to be a factor, he said. The drivers of the Fountain and the Envision told officers they didn?t see the other approaching boat in time to turn."

The scary part is that we have a night-time speed limit of 30mph.

And yes, we have several fireworks shows over the major holidays and when over, better get the he11 out of the way.

And, we have water patrol sitting in the main channel, at night, with their lights off to catch DUI boaters.

Lake of the Ozarks can be scary during the day on a holiday. Venture out at night to your own peril.