FREDO wrote:
I just watched a program about the Coast Guard on TV.

A guy with a 40' boat hit an underwater piling and the boat sunk the next
morning.
Everyone got off the boat Ok.

My questions a
Aren't there any channel markers on the Columbia river?

Was this guy just an ignorant boater?

Don't they have channel maps?

IMHO You would think someone with an expensive boat would know a little more
about the place they are boating and not take risks like running WOT in a
shoals area.

I have found that even the little rivers in Indiana I used to run a jon
boat on have many shoals and sandbars and you have to be extremely careful
if you don't know the waters.

Fredo



The guy must have been outside the marked channel as it's ~
40' deep. There are lots of wing dams and pilings whose
visibility depends on river level. There are also sunken
logs or old pilings that seem to appear and disappear
randomly. Perhaps they angle up in the current or one end
catches on the bottom as they drift downstream. I've often
seen a "new" piling and wondered where it came from. Next
week it's gone.

-rick-