Boaters say danger lurks on Ohio River, especially at night
 

By Ryan Clark
Enquirer staff writer


DAYTON, Ky. - All along the river here, where gawkers mixed with
passersby, everyone wanted to know what happened. Why did the boat go out
so early in the morning? Why couldn't they signal the oncoming barge? Why
couldn't the barge see the small houseboat? The quiet marinas lining
Northern Kentucky were mobbed after a man was killed, another escaped and
two others are missing after a barge hit their 36-foot houseboat
overnight.

As officials searched and the day wore on, life began to get back to
normal Thursday, aside from the flashing lights of emergency vehicles and
TV cameras along the shoreline.

"It's different on a boat," said 48-year-old Randy Griffith. He lives in
Newport but keeps his boat at the River City Marina, just a splash from
where the collision occurred. "In a car, if you have an accident, you can
get out. In a boat, it's either sink or swim."

Griffith, who has kept his boat at the site for five years, said he's
leery of being on the river at night.

"You've got to be careful," he said. "That's like I say, you have to stay
on this side of the river. If you wander out, you can find trouble."

Less than a half-mile from the wreck, Capt. Dennis New watched the search
from his perch on board the Queen City Riverboat.

"Whatever happened, a boat has no business being out on the river at 4
a.m.," said New, who has been working on the river for 33 years. "Then
again, every boat needs a lookout to watch for things. Basically, if you
do what you're supposed to do, these things won't happen."

Greg Sizemore, 46, watched the recovery attempt from the Queen City
Riverboats parking lot. Owner of a 40-foot offshore boat, Sizemore, of
Covington, was considering bringing it to the River City Marina for the
Labor Day fireworks show.

Now he isn't sure.

"It just shows you how dangerous the river can be here at dark," he
said. "Especially for the fireworks show, where people will be
partying. People need to be careful down here. I'm just not sure if we'll
come or not."

At the Watertown Yacht Club, those who live on the water are divided about
whether the incident will affect their lives.

Ron Boenitsch has lived on his boat, the Weekend Retreat, for more than
three years. But after 23 years in the Navy, the 57-year-old said there
isn't much that scares him.

"I've seen much worse than that," Boenitsch said. "You just shouldn't go
out there at night."

But Johnny Goodwin, 75, from Clifton, who spends time on his Seabird at
Watertown, said he may stay away from the area now.

"It's just so dangerous," he said. "... People need to know that there are
times when it's hard to see you out there."

E-mail

http://news.enquirer.com/apps/pbcs.d...508260397/1056

Is this news?

Garrison Hilliard wrote:
By Ryan Clark
Enquirer staff writer

DAYTON, Ky. - All along the river here, where gawkers mixed with
passersby, everyone wanted to know what happened. Why did the boat go out
so early in the morning?

What difference does it make why they went out? What might matter is
the condition of the pilot (inebbriated? drugged up?)

Why couldn't they signal the oncoming barge?

Maybe they did.

Why couldn't the barge see the small houseboat?

Maybe it did.

The quiet marinas lining
Northern Kentucky were mobbed after a man was killed, another escaped and
two others are missing after a barge hit their 36-foot houseboat
overnight.

[snip]

"It's just so dangerous," he said. "... People need to know that there are
times when it's hard to see you out there."

It's *always* difficult for a large vessel to see a small one.

I don't live near one of those commercial arteries, but I am dam' sure
those barges (especially when they are rafted up) are pigs when it come
to emergency evasive maneuvers, and I am sure that if I put on the
river -- day *or* night -- I would regard it as *my* responsibility to
stay out of their way.

This pathetic article didn't give a word of description of the barge
itself, which might have helped in understanding how the incident
occured. I thought the job of the reporter was to give us answers, not
questions. *My* question is: why did he bother to turn in the article
before he gathered a description of the barge and interviewed the
survivor? Of *course* "everyone wanted to know what happened", and it
is the reporter's job to tell them!

Thanks for posting this, Garrison. I'm starting to take an interest in
the Ohio, Mississippi, and Missouri rivers, and what goes on on 'em. I
wish the reporter had actually reported something substantive.


-Richard, His Kanubic Travesty
--

================================================== ====================
Richard Hopley Winston-Salem, NC, USA
rhopley[at]earthlink[dot]net
Nothing really matters except Boats, Sex, and Rock'n'Roll
rhopley[at]wfubmc[dot]edu
OK, OK; computer programming for scientific research also matters
================================================== ====================

It is amazing to watch them manouver a string of barges into a lock,
there is a lot of skill involved, but they do it very slowly and
carefully. Note that the tug is at the back of the string, so the
lookout on the bridge is likely to be 1/4 mile from the front of the
string of barges. If the boat is close enough to the front barge, it is
likely to be completely hidden from view of the bridge.

I have always been told not to expect to be seen in a small boat by
freighters, barges, and other large boats. I would think that would
apply double at night. A houseboat is not a small boat to me, but it is
small compared to a string of barges a 1/4 mile long. I am not sure how
many miles it takes to stop a string of barges, not to speak of the
issues of upstream vs. downstream travel. The Ohio river is very busy
in terms of recreation and commercial traffic.

When I see barges on the Ohio River at night, the tug has an extremely
powerful searchlight up top, so it should be visible from miles away,
unless there is fog. A houseboat probably just has normal navigation
lights, so not nearly as visible. If all the lights are on in the
houseboat, that makes the houseboat more visible, but probably kills the
vision of the skipper. So for the houseboat, there is no good answer on
the lights, other than to have your own powerful spotlight.

One other note is that human beings, even sober ones with good
intentions, are not at their best at 4 AM, so errors are more likely,
both on the part of the houseboat and the barge/tug.

richard



Oci-One Kanubi wrote:

Is this news?

Garrison Hilliard wrote:

By Ryan Clark
Enquirer staff writer

DAYTON, Ky. - All along the river here, where gawkers mixed with
passersby, everyone wanted to know what happened. Why did the boat go out
so early in the morning?


What difference does it make why they went out? What might matter is
the condition of the pilot (inebbriated? drugged up?)


Why couldn't they signal the oncoming barge?


Maybe they did.


Why couldn't the barge see the small houseboat?


Maybe it did.


The quiet marinas lining
Northern Kentucky were mobbed after a man was killed, another escaped and
two others are missing after a barge hit their 36-foot houseboat
overnight.

[snip]

"It's just so dangerous," he said. "... People need to know that there are
times when it's hard to see you out there."


It's *always* difficult for a large vessel to see a small one.

I don't live near one of those commercial arteries, but I am dam' sure
those barges (especially when they are rafted up) are pigs when it come
to emergency evasive maneuvers, and I am sure that if I put on the
river -- day *or* night -- I would regard it as *my* responsibility to
stay out of their way.

This pathetic article didn't give a word of description of the barge
itself, which might have helped in understanding how the incident
occured. I thought the job of the reporter was to give us answers, not
questions. *My* question is: why did he bother to turn in the article
before he gathered a description of the barge and interviewed the
survivor? Of *course* "everyone wanted to know what happened", and it
is the reporter's job to tell them!

Thanks for posting this, Garrison. I'm starting to take an interest in
the Ohio, Mississippi, and Missouri rivers, and what goes on on 'em. I
wish the reporter had actually reported something substantive.


-Richard, His Kanubic Travesty
--

================================================== ====================
Richard Hopley Winston-Salem, NC, USA
rhopley[at]earthlink[dot]net
Nothing really matters except Boats, Sex, and Rock'n'Roll
rhopley[at]wfubmc[dot]edu
OK, OK; computer programming for scientific research also matters
================================================== ====================

Richard Ferguson wrote in
:

It is amazing to watch them manouver a string of barges into a lock,
there is a lot of skill involved, but they do it very slowly and
carefully.

I was at a conference a couple of months ago in New Orleans that was held in
a hotel with a panoramic view of the Mississippi river right where there was
a big bend in the river. From the lobby on the 11th floor I could watch the
barges come down the river and watching them navigate the bend was quite
interesting. They would go across river and let the current turn the barges
so some of the larger strings (I counted 12 barges on one) would take up a
good portion of the river.

I have always been told not to expect to be seen in a small boat by
freighters, barges, and other large boats. I would think that would
apply double at night. A houseboat is not a small boat to me, but it
is small compared to a string of barges a 1/4 mile long. I am not sure
how many miles it takes to stop a string of barges, not to speak of the
issues of upstream vs. downstream travel. The Ohio river is very busy
in terms of recreation and commercial traffic.

When I see barges on the Ohio River at night, the tug has an extremely
powerful searchlight up top, so it should be visible from miles away,
unless there is fog. A houseboat probably just has normal navigation
lights, so not nearly as visible. If all the lights are on in the
houseboat, that makes the houseboat more visible, but probably kills
the vision of the skipper. So for the houseboat, there is no good
answer on the lights, other than to have your own powerful spotlight.

It's also worth noting that the use of sight is not the only signalling
device. In low visibility conditions the use of sound becomes more
important. The use of light as a signalling device is only useful if the
light can be seen and that assumes that the operator of other boats are
actually watching for lights. A very loud horn can get the attention of
boat operators that might not be paying attention to visual clues.


One other note is that human beings, even sober ones with good
intentions, are not at their best at 4 AM, so errors are more likely,
both on the part of the houseboat and the barge/tug.

richard



Oci-One Kanubi wrote:

Is this news?

Garrison Hilliard wrote:

By Ryan Clark
Enquirer staff writer

DAYTON, Ky. - All along the river here, where gawkers mixed with
passersby, everyone wanted to know what happened. Why did the boat go
out so early in the morning?


What difference does it make why they went out? What might matter is
the condition of the pilot (inebbriated? drugged up?)


Why couldn't they signal the oncoming barge?


Maybe they did.


Why couldn't the barge see the small houseboat?


Maybe it did.


The quiet marinas lining
Northern Kentucky were mobbed after a man was killed, another escaped
and two others are missing after a barge hit their 36-foot houseboat
overnight.

[snip]

"It's just so dangerous," he said. "... People need to know that there
are times when it's hard to see you out there."


It's *always* difficult for a large vessel to see a small one.

I don't live near one of those commercial arteries, but I am dam' sure
those barges (especially when they are rafted up) are pigs when it
come to emergency evasive maneuvers, and I am sure that if I put on
the river -- day *or* night -- I would regard it as *my*
responsibility to stay out of their way.

This pathetic article didn't give a word of description of the barge
itself, which might have helped in understanding how the incident
occured. I thought the job of the reporter was to give us answers,
not questions. *My* question is: why did he bother to turn in the
article before he gathered a description of the barge and interviewed
the survivor? Of *course* "everyone wanted to know what happened",
and it is the reporter's job to tell them!

Thanks for posting this, Garrison. I'm starting to take an interest
in the Ohio, Mississippi, and Missouri rivers, and what goes on on
'em. I wish the reporter had actually reported something substantive.


-Richard, His Kanubic Travesty --

================================================== ====================
Richard Hopley Winston-Salem, NC, USA
rhopley[at]earthlink[dot]net
Nothing really matters except Boats, Sex, and Rock'n'Roll
rhopley[at]wfubmc[dot]edu
OK, OK; computer programming for scientific research also matters
================================================== ====================

"Garrison Hilliard" wrote
Why couldn't they signal the oncoming barge?

Why do reporters ask questions they've already answered?
http://news.enquirer.com/apps/pbcs.d...508260390/1056
"All four passengers were below deck trying to restore power when the boat
was struck"

Basically, if you do what you're supposed
to do, these things won't happen."

Exactly.

I mix with barges on the Kanawha River day and night. You stay out of their
way, they don't run over you. I know it's speaking ill of the dead, but
drifting in the middle of the channel at night with no lookout was foolish.

Something I've noticed, that you might not expect if you haven't been around
them, is that you often can't hear a string of barges approaching. Typically
they're moving relatively slowly and the noisy end is a couple hundred yards
back from the part that you'll encounter first. If there's no wind or other
sounds you may hear a little rustling when it's within a short distance but
that's about it. They're pretty hard to miss visually, though, if you're
watching. Bottom line is you really should keep your eyes open and your
thumbs out.

wrote
These guys broke down and dfidn't get out of the "road".
It is about the same as the guys who are changing a tire on a bridge
and get hit by a semi.
I am not really sure what anyone could have done once the barge was in
view. He ain't stopping.

I've seen them stop fairly quickly when they want to stop. Less than the
length of the tow, typically. I'd never count on one to stop for me, though.
If for some reason I found myself stopped in the middle of the river with no
power, the first thing I'd do is start looking to see what's coming. The
second/simultaneous thing would be to get out of the channel, with or
without the boat as the situation dictates. The *last* thing I'd do is stop
looking.