We had a major accident occur right outside the marina this past weekend a 21' Sea Ray collided with a 41' foot Formula. there are some details here http://www.sanduskyregister.com/articles/2008/06/16/front/794398.txt
I also know some other details as I was awake when this happened and made phone calls to get marina staff on the premises to assist local authorities.
The 41' Formula had just been stopped by the USCG and was released after repairing a mast light.
The Sea Ray had been at a concert at Lyman Harbor MArina and went to get some food at the local McDonalds on Causeway Rd (there used to be a dock at the McDonalds but it isn't there any longer not sure how they planned to get to it as shore area is all rocks) The Sea Ray was returning from McDonalds when the accident occured. The Formula was returning to our Marina (he is rack stored there) The injured girl Ashley used to work the gas dock at the marina. What surprises me is the volume of accusations being thrown around with little or no proof or based on some rumor, people seem to have too much time on their hands. Both boats have been impounded by ODNR boy they have a lot of investigating to do and who knows if we will ever know the entire story of what all transpired out on the bay that night.
That kind of news is depressing. We (on Lake St Clair) have had several accidents already this year ALL AT NIGHT. Three people in a 38' go fast died after slamming into a parked dredge barge right in front of our marina AT NIGHT on Memorial day weekend. Another accident, no one died, happened when two boats collided on Anchor Bay AT NIGHT and both were traveling at irresponsible speeds. What is with these guys out in the middle of the night blasting around? I don't no about anyone else but I can't see sh*t at night with all the glare and background lights on shore, its tough. Thats the beauty of our cruiser, slow and steady and usually in shortly after sunsets.
Steve
LSC, while a big lake, is full of knuckleheads. Near misses occur constantly regardless of what size boat you are in. IMHO, we need a law that requires a license to operate a boat and one that restricts speed after dark to a maximum of 10 mph. There are just too many fishing boats and sail boats out there whose lights blend in with the shoreline virtually making them impossible to see without radar. A few weeks ago two fishermen had to jump overboard to avoid being run over by a speeding boat. Both were ok, but their fishing boat sunk.
Brian, the operator of the 38 that hit the barge, by his own admission was traveling at 43 mph. Granted the barge should not have been abandon there, but 43 mph at 10:30 pm within 1/2 mile of the shoreline, spells gross negligence that cost the lives of three people and ruined the lives of he and Rob. Personally, I have no use for the go fasts and consider the operators nothing more than pencil dick wannabe's.
P.D.'s, indeed! I agree 100%. I was nearly run over leaving MacRay this past Saturday afternoon... a trio of P.D.'s in a 330 'Dancer (the go-to boat when switching from offshore idiocy to floating whorehouse) kept her on plane while entering the channel, threading between several boats idling out of the harbor, while throwing a large wake and disturbing Steve and his brother, and the 100 or so other boats anchored next to the channel.
He passed me, my wife and our two small children close enough for me too read "Oakley" on the skipper's sunglasses... I turned my head and watched them go by, and one of the lunkhead passengers threw up his arms as if to say "What? You wanna do somethin about it?"
Don't these morons know that this type of behavior is exactly how people die on the water! It made me consider giving up boating and take up gardening...
Okay, my rant is over, but if this doesn't stop, there will be more bad headlines this season.
Angry and scared in a little boat on Lake St. Clair,
Jon Kloka.
Yall:
We can't carry weapons on the Bay, probably with good reason even though I grew up with guns. But I can be a very poor shot when I have to be. I wonder how much trouble a person would get into if a poorly placed flare accidently landed in the cockpit of a boat going by as John described,and as many of the rest of us have experienced more than once. I can just hear myself telling the judge something like this. "Well, you see, your honor, when the speeding boat came thru at such a speed, I just figured the captain had had a heart attack or something worse, and all the passengers were either frozen in place or waving their arms to signal that something was wrong. So I got the flare gun out to warn the CG and others. Of course, my boat was rocking like crazy and just as I shot the boat really rocked and as I fell over, my hand dropped and the flare went right into their cockpit. It must have got the captain's attention 'cause he slowed down real quick like in order to put the fire out. I am real sorry about it, sir"
I have pulled the flare gun out once while on my sailboat with every intention of using it against a runnabout that kept circling me. The guy was drunk or at least drinking, but the sight of the 12 gauge pointed at him straightened his course right up.
Jerry - working on a gatlin gun for flares.
Unless traveling to Canada, I always have a Remington 870 Mariner 12 gauge pump gun on board. Ammo is double OO buck. Don't necessarily keep it loaded, but it has been on occasion. This gun is nickel plated making it corrosion resistant, has an 18 inch barrel and short stock. Comes up real fast and points excellently.
Having experience with a wide array of weapons and weapons training, I am not advocating the use of or the brandishing of fire arms to make a point with some idiot. Nor would I use it to boost my confidence in telling some yahoo to slow the .... down. That being said, there are a lot of folks here on LSC that fancy themselves as wiseguy off spring of a Soprano gangster. Fast boats and bad jewelry are the tip off. Thus, we are ready for most potential incidents. First rule of thumb is to have your say then drive away. However, in the event someone tries to board our boat, the old saying of "I'd rather be judged by 12 than carried by six" is my mantra.
People may not think pirates exist these days, but if you are cruising the islands in a big fancy boat and not paying attention, you can be boarded and your boat may be found floating weeks later. It is tougher to board a boat that is under way, but at anchor at night, you are at risk in some of these areas. The more remote the anchorage, the more risk.
I too carry a loaded weapon on board but no one will find it and I lie when asked. It is a stainles steel colt 45 auto pistol. The first shot goes through the hull near the engine room. The rest of the clip keeps the people off my boat.
A lot has to be considered before it comes out. I never drink on board.
Jerry
Here a few deck mounted solutions! I'm sure one would never encounter "P.D. Problems with one of these. The Harpoon might look right at home on the front of Terry's Sportfish!! The little Herreshoff 10ga, signal cannon is available in a rail mount for us little guys with a chip on our shoulders...
How about we recycle old warships, anchor this one on Lake St. Clair. Hand out laser painting devices to all the qualified boaters in the area. Call in a strike if and when the area needs to be cleansed?
I hate to hear news like this. You guys have a LOT more boating traffic than we do here, with so many more destinations, etc. It sure is a good argument for lots of illumination on your boat if you are out at night. When I'm running the Cumberland River at night on those dinner cruises, we seldom ever even see another boat. When we do, I always illuminate the fore-deck with the floodlight mode of my big spotlight to be sure they can see us. In addition, I never see anyone running fast at night. That can get real expensive very fast around here if you hit any floating debris like a log or even a large twig for some of the outdrives.
I too,really hate to hear about accidents and injuries like this and all the different circumstances that accidents occur under. Drinking or other has no place with the operator of any machinery and yet we all do it all the time. Add marginal conditions like nightime and the number of PRUDENT captains and operators drops exponetially.
The nav lights on our commanders are inadequate. Period. We can barely be seen. They may be legal but they are not adequate for our crowded waterways. Not one of us would take a 1960's something car with two big V-8s and drive it around in heavy traffic. First, the brakes are not adequate, second the taillights are not bright enough.
There are a number of solutions to this. Summer Palace will have her lights high enough that she can be at a much greater distance than the current bulbs can be seen at some 4 or 5 feet off the water as they now exist and with a much greater wattage.
If we don't voluntarily display prudency of operation, the CG will enforce prudency the same way the auto and the plane have gone. And that's no fun.
Jerry
