Coast Guard rescue on Columbia River
 

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

Coast Guard rescue on Columbia River
 

Harry Krause wrote:
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



I don't know about the Columbia River, but I have seen lots of
underwater obstructions revealed at very low tides that simply aren't on
the charts. Some of these aren't far below the surface even at high
tide. As you point out, charts are no match for local knowledge.


Local knowledge is no substitute for charts, either. Most prudent
mariners rely on both, when available, and if the guy in this example
was cruising without charts his excuse was almost certainly "I've been
through here two dozen times and I know the water like the back of
my.......(crunch)"

It is true that some hazards are uncharted, but it's not as common as
people would like to believe. There's a midchannel rock in the San
Juans that claims or damages several boats a year. Invariably, the
skippers protest, "It isn't on the charts!" In fact, if a boater is
trying to get by with a single 1:150,000 scale chart covering the
entire San Juan archipelago the rock does *not* show. Anybody entering
a restricted body of water, (such as the passage between two islands
where the rock in this example lurks) relying on a chart that doesn't
show enough local detail is asking for trouble and many find it.

Not only are charts required, but a set of proper charts. Local
knowledge is the frosting on the cake.

Coast Guard rescue on Columbia River
 

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-

Coast Guard rescue on Columbia River
 

We used to water ski in Florida's Escambia River in the 60's. Seems like
anyone who ever caught a fish felt obligated to mark the spot with a stick.
And we ski'd anyway: lucky we never fell and got impaled.
Oh, yeah, we didn't know anything about channel markers then, either. We had
an oar aboard and used it to pole off the mud when we'd run aground, which
was frequently!

"-rick-" wrote in message
...
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-

Coast Guard rescue on Columbia River
 

I believe it was a wing dam he hit. The boat was only 100 yards from shore
when it hit. By the next day it had moved downstream and was sitting with
just the antenna out of the water.

"-rick-" wrote in message
...
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-

Coast Guard rescue on Columbia River
 

Around 1/29/2006 9:20 AM, wrote:

It is true that some hazards are uncharted, but it's not as common as
people would like to believe. There's a midchannel rock in the San
Juans that claims or damages several boats a year. Invariably, the
skippers protest, "It isn't on the charts!"

Which rock are you thinking of?




Charts and local knowledge are both requisites, but I'd add a third:
Keeping a sharp watch. I know, "duh," but someone has to say it.

A couple years ago, if it weren't for a combination of all three, I
would have nailed the unnamed rock outside the entrance to Fisherman Bay
(dubbed Tepee rock in "Gunkholing"). This despite the fact that I *knew*
it was there; I swear, it must have moved further out from shore just
that one year... :)


--
~/Garth - 1966 Glastron V-142 Skiflite: "Blue-Boat"
"There is nothing - absolutely nothing - half so much worth doing
as simply messing about in boats." -- Kenneth Grahame
~~ Ventis secundis, tene cursum ~~

Coast Guard rescue on Columbia River
 

Why doesn't someone tie a floating buoy or a milk jug to that rock so people
can see it?

"Garth Almgren" wrote in message
...
Around 1/29/2006 9:20 AM, wrote:

It is true that some hazards are uncharted, but it's not as common as
people would like to believe. There's a midchannel rock in the San
Juans that claims or damages several boats a year. Invariably, the
skippers protest, "It isn't on the charts!"

Which rock are you thinking of?




Charts and local knowledge are both requisites, but I'd add a third:
Keeping a sharp watch. I know, "duh," but someone has to say it.

A couple years ago, if it weren't for a combination of all three, I
would have nailed the unnamed rock outside the entrance to Fisherman Bay
(dubbed Tepee rock in "Gunkholing"). This despite the fact that I *knew*
it was there; I swear, it must have moved further out from shore just
that one year... :)


--
~/Garth - 1966 Glastron V-142 Skiflite: "Blue-Boat"
"There is nothing - absolutely nothing - half so much worth doing
as simply messing about in boats." -- Kenneth Grahame
~~ Ventis secundis, tene cursum ~~

Coast Guard rescue on Columbia River
 

Sounds like some people are ready for the Darwin awards no matter what we do
to try to help them out.

"Shortwave Sportfishing" wrote in message
...
On Mon, 30 Jan 2006 12:34:32 GMT, "FREDO" wrote:

Why doesn't someone tie a floating buoy or a milk jug to that rock so
people
can see it?

because it doesnt matter - some idiot will think its for catching
crayfish or crabs or something.

there was a prop busting rock at the barn island launch ramp since -
well forever- and some kind soul would put a bouy on it every year and
it would still bust props - people thought it was a lobster pot.