Boating Safety

[DShock]

http://www.cnn.com/2009/US/03/27/florida.nfl.capsize/

Doug

[fcch]

Too bad

36$ life insurance:


Don't leave shore without it!

[jimsnarocks]

It's a doggone shame. Three young lives lost because of a mistake on the water. Jim

[DShock]

When I was young, my Dad took me and my brother fishing at central OR Reservoir. The weather started getting bad and my Dad went to pull in the anchor and it was stuck. That whole episode still haunts me. It scared me half to death, thinking we would get blasted by the thunderstorm and maybe never get back home.
Referring to Chris's knife idea, about 20 years ago, we rented a Houseboat on Lake Powell, and we were towing my Bass Boat behind it. We should have never left the dock, since a storm had just come through, and my boat was bobbing up and down, almost disappearing inside the swells, so I told my wife that if my boat flips over, to cut the tow line.
Doug

[saltydancindave]

Have had to cut the anchor line twice, once on the Green River when a lightning storm dropped down in the canyon with hail, sleet & snow blocking the blue sky with the sun shining brightly less than a mile from the put in & again about 20 miles out in the Gulf when the bilge pump hose wasn't pumping water overboard anymore in the 4 to 5 footers after a front came thru ! Seas were a chamber of commerce day before the barometer dropped & the big fish started to bite. Pull the drain plug & hope enough water drains out so the outboard doesn't conk out under water while trying WOT into a crossing sea ! Hull was still draining half of the next day. Of course NOAA weather radio broadcasts 24/7

[Lew]

It's a good idea to double think your anchor situation before you toss it out, and try to anticipate all possibilities. A friend of mine with his family of seven (some small children) was floating the Box Canyon on the Henry's Fork in a large rubber raft. It's a swift stream, and his raft was a little under-inflated. He was in the bow, and decided to throw out the anchor. I don't know the reason. The bow was pointed downstream, and the anchor went directly under the boat, and when it caught in the rocks on the bottom, it turned the boat inside out, and dumped wife, kids, and himself all over the river. Of course, one person can't gather up all those people by himself. Fortunately there were fishermen downstream, and they intercepted his bobbing kids. Thankfully they were wearing PFD's. It's been 30 years or so, and he still shudders whenever he thinks about what could have happened.

[shorthaul]

There is no substitute for education, either the United States Power Squadrons or the Goast Guard Auxilliary have educational courses that help boaters with weather, boat handling and safety procedures ---any of which would have helped in this situation. I boat and fish on Lake Erie that has a reputation for going from a 6" chop to 6' seas in a matter of minutes. It is important to know the weather BEFORE you leave the dock and sometimes it's smarter to have a couple beers at the marina rather than go out and face the weather. Ive done both from time to time and was in a position to cut an anchor rode a few years ago.