As I get closer to getting my own boat, I'm reading about boating
accidents so I'll be as ready as possible to avoid making mistakes.
I'm also going to take any safety courses available, and hire an
experienced captain to be with me and show me the ropes for the first
time the boat touches water.
I owe it to myself, my passengers, and fellow boaters.
I found a site that reports years of Pennsylvania fatal accidents in
rivers, lakes and ponds. Many of the accidents are canoeists and
kayakers getting caught in fast water "strainers" or just overturning
in hypothermia-inducing waters. But there are also plenty of motor
boat accidents.
It is really surprising to see how many people with no experience on
water make fatal excursions there.
I made plenty of dangerous/stupid moves myself when I was young, but
never when it would endanger others (well, excluding the drunk driving
stuff for which I have plausible deniability.) But how somebody
would take his family out on a boat without doing all he could to
ensure their safety is beyond me.
I'm glad the site reports only the bare facts of these accidents,
because each is a tragedy. Reading these as news stories would bring
my spirit low and I wouldn't read so far.
As I read about these accidents, it's clear that the most common are
easily avoided. Don't overload your boat. Don't anchor the stern of
a low-transom boat. Don't speed where you shouldn't. Don't get drunk
and fall overboard. Don't venture into seas/weather that your boat
isn't meant for. Don't horse around. Don't capsize your boat. Don't
get swamped. Always be attentive.
Then there's the "do's" regarding maintenance, safety equipment,
planning, etc, which I won't get into here.
In most cases where experienced boaters die, their initial mistake is
fatally compounded by lack of plans "B" and "C". And those plans
are most often related to good PFD management, because simple
drowning is usually the ultimate cause of death.
Once your boat is gone, it's just you and the water.
Accidents happen to experienced boaters with Power Squadron training
as well as neophytes. And "very good swimmers" drown all the time.
In any case, the best laid plans often come to naught, and stuff
happens. So you simply have a Plan "B" or "C" kick into action.
That's what I thought until my reading got me to this accident.
Now I'm gonna need to come up with Plans D through Z.

"An 81-year old angler lost his life when he capsized his 12-foot
rowboat. The likely course of events is that the victim was anchored,
fishing and got his lure hooked into his anchor line. He attempted to
remove the lure’s hook form the anchor line, untying the anchor.
During this procedure he capsized the small boat, catching the lure
and hooks in his left sleeve, which then caught in his trousers,
restricting the movement of his left hand. As he rolled from the
vessel, he caused the fishing line to wrap around his feet. He also
snagged his hand on a lure further restricting his movement. PFDs were
onboard but not worn. The boat was a johnboat and had a seat welded on
top of the operator one increasing its instability. When divers found
the victim’s body, they had to cut fishing line so they could bring it
to the surface. The victim could not swim and was a very experienced
boater. It is unknown he had any formal instruction in boating
safety."

--Vic

On Thu, 16 Nov 2006 11:57:24 GMT, Short Wave Sportfishing
wrote:

Basic Power Squadron courses are good as are the CG Auxiliary basic
courses. You might even want to consider taking the basic navigation
course the CG Aux does - it's pretty good and gives you a good idea of
how to do certain types of basic chart navigation.

Basic navigation is now on my todo list.

With respect to accidents, is the experienced boater gets into trouble
if only because they are experienced. It's a rather odd conundrum in
that you would think that the "experienced" boater would be less
prone, but when you look at it, what is experienced? A couple of
weekends a month spread over four/five months of summer for a couple
of years? Believe it or not, that doesn't add up to a lot operating
experience. Even if you add five years or so, it's still not a lot.

I believe it. I've even noticed that not driving a car for a week
takes off a certain edge, though at the same time puts on a different,
"cautious" edge.

I consider myself a "moderately" experienced boater, not an expert by
any stretch of imagination in all aspects of boating if only because I
have never owned anything bigger than 30 feet or so and every boat
I've owned has had outboards. If I did purchase what I consider a
large boat (say 35 to 50 feet) that had inboards I'd be exactly like
any other new boater because I only have owned outboards and would
have to learn how to deal with a large inboard boat just like any
other new boater - I have very limited experience with inboards and
that was over 40 years ago.

Good point. And that's why I want a captain with experience on the
type of boat I'll be getting to show me the ropes. Besides boat
handling, he'll be there for the initial shakedown and be able to
detect any issues.

The incident you related though is an accident - the circumstances
don't point to experience, but a situation that got out of control.
There is a difference between an accident caused by lack of experience
and an accident caused by strange circumstances.

Yeah, I know. It was those strange circumstances and their
out-of-control nature that caused me to think more than ever about
safety. All the old guy did to start the chain of events was try to
unsnag a lure. It was downhill super-slalom from there on.
But that's how it always starts. A simple move, not thought out.

You can't cover every circumstance by reading up on accidents. The
reason is that most emergencies occur so quickly that reaction time is
the major consideration - experience mitigates that greatly.

Agreed.

I've always lived by a simple rule when on the water - if undecided,
stop/reverse course/maneuver to a safe area.

Very good advice.

In any case, you have the right idea and if you live near me, I would
be more than willing to help you out if you wish.

Thanks for the offer. My "boating life" is going to be odd.
I live in Illinois and don't want a boat here, and don't have room for
it anyway. My freshwater boat days are over.
I am going to buy a boat in Florida. Somewhere on the Gulf coast.
Probably Charlotte harbor.
It will be trailered to a nearby marina and launched.
We will be in Florida no more than two months a year, a month at time.
Renting.
It's possible that my rental will have a dock and lift.
If not, I will use the marina while in Florida.
We will spend most days boating/fishing.
When I leave Florida I will have the boat trailered from the marina
to a storage location, where it will sit 10 months of the year.
I won't be able to perform my own maintenance, so will have to
pay to have that done.
That's the real downside, not being able to tinker with my boat,
and starting up cold every trip.
But I'm thinking I might eventually convince the wife to move
south. Then that boat will really be mine.

--Vic

Vic Smith wrote in
:

Always be attentive.


Along that thought, I'd like to plug this into your thinking.....

Suppose you are in one corner of a 1/4 full WalMart parking lot that has
no malls to obstruct any path you take. Noone is watching and you want
to go to the other corner by driving across the lot, not following the
little lane lines painted on the ground. We've all done it.

Notice how carefully you drive kitty corner across the parking lot, very
carefully looking out to see if anyone from any other direction is on a
collision course with you. Notice how, every time you come to a vehicle
that blocks your wide vision, you slow down even a little and look around
him to make sure another car isn't hidden by the stupid SUVbeast some mom
parked there. You arrive on the other side of the parking lot, having
successfully pulled this off, spitting in the face of the authority who
painted the lanes, and feel a great sigh of relief you made it without
hitting anything.

That's EXACTLY how you should drive your pretty new boat across the
harbor, carefully picking your way across the lanes, marked or unmarked,
used by the rest of us. There's only one difference. You must also look
UNDER your boat to make sure the bottom isn't coming up to meet your keel
and that amazingly expensive underwater propulsion unit with the prop
screwed onto it. Think of it as a roof over the Walmart parking lot
that, in odd places, comes almost down to the pavement as if it has
collapsed. It's just upside down from the bottom of the harbor in the
boat. Don't hesitate to install a SONAR to help you look DOWN. You
can't see the bottom from where you're sitting unless you buy a glass-
bottomed boat!...(c;

You'll do fine. You're thinking! That puts you in the top 10% of the
people behind boat steering wheels, already!...(c; Thanks for
thinking...

Larry
--
Halloween candy sure has dropped in price, lately!

Vic Smith wrote in
:

"An 81-year old angler lost his life when he capsized his 12-foot
rowboat. The likely course of events is that the victim was anchored,
fishing and got his lure hooked into his anchor line. He attempted to
remove the lure's hook form the anchor line, untying the anchor.


When I was about 10 or 11 years old, I was driving my state-park-green
12' wooden rowboat with the 1HP Elto outboard across Owasco Lake in the
Finger Lakes of upstate NY, the reason I don't remember, probably because
my Grandpa's gas was free...(c;

I saw an old man with white hair, like mine is now, leaning against his
outboard motor, looking just awful and panting like a dog. I steered
towards him and asked him if he was ok.

"I can't get my motor started. I've pulled and pulled.", he said. I
offered to tow him to his dock on the other side of the lake. To this
day, I think I saved his life. He had oars, but I doubt he'd have lasted
to get home.

Once we got to his dock, I hung around to see if we could figure out how
to get his motor to run, a pesky kid I was. I was a hero a second time
when I asked him why the spark plug wire was pulled off the spark plug
under the little gas tank. We put it back and it cranked right up....(c;
I was also a smartassed kid, but that was another matter.... He said he
had pulled the motor up while he was fishing to keep it out of the weeds
and probably pulled the wire off with his hand lifting the handle on the
back of the gas tank. His wife called my grandparents to say I'd be
having lunch with them and what happened so they wouldn't worry.....

Larry
--
Halloween candy sure has dropped in price, lately!

Larry wrote:
Vic Smith wrote in
:


"An 81-year old angler lost his life when he capsized his 12-foot
rowboat. The likely course of events is that the victim was anchored,
fishing and got his lure hooked into his anchor line. He attempted to
remove the lure's hook form the anchor line, untying the anchor.



When I was about 10 or 11 years old, I was driving my state-park-green
12' wooden rowboat with the 1HP Elto outboard across Owasco Lake in the
Finger Lakes of upstate NY, the reason I don't remember, probably because
my Grandpa's gas was free...(c;

I saw an old man with white hair, like mine is now, leaning against his
outboard motor, looking just awful and panting like a dog. I steered
towards him and asked him if he was ok.

"I can't get my motor started. I've pulled and pulled.", he said. I
offered to tow him to his dock on the other side of the lake. To this
day, I think I saved his life. He had oars, but I doubt he'd have lasted
to get home.

Once we got to his dock, I hung around to see if we could figure out how
to get his motor to run, a pesky kid I was. I was a hero a second time
when I asked him why the spark plug wire was pulled off the spark plug
under the little gas tank. We put it back and it cranked right up....(c;
I was also a smartassed kid, but that was another matter.... He said he
had pulled the motor up while he was fishing to keep it out of the weeds
and probably pulled the wire off with his hand lifting the handle on the
back of the gas tank. His wife called my grandparents to say I'd be
having lunch with them and what happened so they wouldn't worry.....

Larry


You'll be an interesting case for St. Peter when your time comes.
He'll be hard pressed trying to weigh your good deeds against your
'other activities' to see if you get a pass or not.

On Thu, 16 Nov 2006 15:56:24 -0500, Larry wrote:

Vic Smith wrote in
:

Always be attentive.


Along that thought, I'd like to plug this into your thinking.....

Suppose you are in one corner of a 1/4 full WalMart parking lot that has
no malls to obstruct any path you take. Noone is watching and you want
to go to the other corner by driving across the lot, not following the
little lane lines painted on the ground. We've all done it.

Notice how carefully you drive kitty corner across the parking lot, very
carefully looking out to see if anyone from any other direction is on a
collision course with you. Notice how, every time you come to a vehicle
that blocks your wide vision, you slow down even a little and look around
him to make sure another car isn't hidden by the stupid SUVbeast some mom
parked there. You arrive on the other side of the parking lot, having
successfully pulled this off, spitting in the face of the authority who
painted the lanes, and feel a great sigh of relief you made it without
hitting anything.

That's EXACTLY how you should drive your pretty new boat across the
harbor, carefully picking your way across the lanes, marked or unmarked,
used by the rest of us. There's only one difference. You must also look
UNDER your boat to make sure the bottom isn't coming up to meet your keel
and that amazingly expensive underwater propulsion unit with the prop
screwed onto it. Think of it as a roof over the Walmart parking lot
that, in odd places, comes almost down to the pavement as if it has
collapsed. It's just upside down from the bottom of the harbor in the
boat. Don't hesitate to install a SONAR to help you look DOWN. You
can't see the bottom from where you're sitting unless you buy a glass-
bottomed boat!...(c;

You'll do fine. You're thinking! That puts you in the top 10% of the
people behind boat steering wheels, already!...(c; Thanks for
thinking...

Larry, you got me thinking again, and a bit confused. I agree with
what you said about crossing the parking lot. *If* visibility is good
and other circumstances make it worthwhile, I've done it. Not to go
fast, because cutting the lanes carefully can take as long as using
the "normal" lanes.
I've done it to keep away from other vehicles in the lanes.
Since I don't have the boating/navigation experience, or awareness of
laws/enforcement, my thought was I will always be in "normal" traffic
lanes when on the water. And BTW, I see the biggest risk on the water
to be other boats. I might be able to influence others' action by
mine, but the bottom line is I have no control over other boats.
My highway driving is also geared to keep me away from other vehicles.
I plan to do that on water too, but never thought about in the context
of cutting across a parking lot where lanes of navigation are laid
out. But then I'm not yet familiar with water markers.
I'm planning on getting a skiff that will draw 6-10 inches, depending
on whether I get a 17' or 24.' I will have a good depth finder.
Having read many incidents of wake-swamping I want to stay away from
large watercraft whenever possible, but make that my goal with all
other watercraft.
Since I'm never in a hurry (looming weather could change that) and
will be driving a shallow-draft boat, you seem to be giving me driving
options I never thought I had. I like it.
I know that water/bottom conditions where you boat might be different
than the Charlotte harbor area, but can you give this newbie a couple
quick personal examples of how you put this to use?
Thanks.

--Vic

On Thu, 16 Nov 2006 16:08:53 -0500, Larry wrote:

When I was about 10 or 11 years old, I was driving my state-park-green
12' wooden rowboat with the 1HP Elto outboard across Owasco Lake in the
Finger Lakes of upstate NY, the reason I don't remember, probably because
my Grandpa's gas was free...(c;

I saw an old man with white hair, like mine is now, leaning against his
outboard motor, looking just awful and panting like a dog. I steered
towards him and asked him if he was ok.

"I can't get my motor started. I've pulled and pulled.", he said. I
offered to tow him to his dock on the other side of the lake. To this
day, I think I saved his life. He had oars, but I doubt he'd have lasted
to get home.

Once we got to his dock, I hung around to see if we could figure out how
to get his motor to run, a pesky kid I was. I was a hero a second time
when I asked him why the spark plug wire was pulled off the spark plug
under the little gas tank. We put it back and it cranked right up....(c;
I was also a smartassed kid, but that was another matter.... He said he
had pulled the motor up while he was fishing to keep it out of the weeds
and probably pulled the wire off with his hand lifting the handle on the
back of the gas tank. His wife called my grandparents to say I'd be
having lunch with them and what happened so they wouldn't worry.....

Good job. When reading all those accident reports I saw many
instances where people saw somebody in distress but didn't take
immediate action. It cost lives. That was especially important in
cases where it was an old-time in distress, because sometimes they're
stubborn about not asking for help. You have to be a leader and
ignore their guff.

--Vic

Short Wave Sportfishing wrote:

On Thu, 16 Nov 2006 04:48:33 -0600, Vic Smith
wrote:

The incident you related though is an accident - the circumstances
don't point to experience, but a situation that got out of control.
There is a difference between an accident caused by lack of experience
and an accident caused by strange circumstances.

Coupla quotes:

"The boat was a johnboat and had a seat welded on
top of the operator one increasing its instability."

"The victim could not swim and was a very experienced
boater."

"PFDs were onboard but not worn."

May have been an accident, but it sure sounds like an accident just
waiting to happen.

DT

Vic Smith wrote in
:

Since I'm never in a hurry (looming weather could change that) and
will be driving a shallow-draft boat, you seem to be giving me driving
options I never thought I had. I like it.

Looming weather is probably too late. We all get caught by weather,
miles from the trailer. In a river, you can speed up, but in open water
that looming weather will whip the surface so you have to slow down, not
speed up. Don't wait, head in early.

I know that water/bottom conditions where you boat might be different
than the Charlotte harbor area, but can you give this newbie a couple
quick personal examples of how you put this to use?


I assume you mean the sonar. Charlotte Harbor is like the rest of them,
slowly, but inevitably, silting in from the tide currents. The bottom of
any harbor is constantly shifting. That's what all the dredging is about
where commercial shipping must have depth. Where they go, the depth is
kept to 50', like Charleston Harbor's shipping channels. However,
anywhere else is now completely neglected. The ICW in 90% of the nation
is closing itself down because dredging stopped when shipping on it
stopped years ago. Parts of the ICW are so shallow we can't drag a 6'
draft sailboat keel over it any more. Florida's ICW is just awful. I
can't wait to get the ketch offshore, where she belongs. The manatees
have become a fantastic excuse to stop spending money on dredging so it
can be diverted into something more vote productive. So, the bottom
keeps coming closer and closer. In your small boat, you only need a
couple of ft deeper than your motor skeg sticks down, probably 3-4' would
be fine.

In a small boat, I recommend a "fish finder", a sonar that makes a
graphical recording of the bottom as you go over it. Even if you don't
fish, it lets you see the TREND of what the bottom is doing, getting
deeper or shallower in that gradual slope, reaching out to snatch the
bottom of the motor away from you. The graphing sonar lets you look down
to see how deep it is. When you're buying a sonar, don't worry that it
will see the bottom in 600' of water. Worry that it can see the bottom
in 3' of water! If it sees the bottom 50' down, that's about as far as
we need. The big, deep sonars have powerful transmitters with LONG pulse
widths. The shallowest bottom it can see depends on a SHORT pulse width.
If the reflected sound off the bottom arrives back at the transducer
while it's still transmitting, you won't see it. It has already passed
by the time the long pulse width is over. A short pulse width will be
over BEFORE the echo from the bottom 3' down arrives so the receiver can
hear it and show you it's 3' deep. Also, get a sonar where you can put
in the boat's depth to offset the displayed depth. Set the offset 2'
deeper than the bottom of the engine skeg. If it ever gets close to
zero, you're in trouble. The display will now show the depth of the
water at the bottom of the motor skeg. NEVER let it get near zero. Just
as soon as it gets to 2' of water under that expensive foot, there'll be
a log sticking up to catch it. It's an unwritten law of the sea!...(c;

Other obstructions it can't help you with, like those damned crab traps
with the toilet floats bobbing at the surface....right in the channel
****es me off.

"Red Right Returning" is the saying for the bouys coming into the harbor.
Coming from sea, the red bouys should be on your right. On the ICW, it
changes to confuse everyone. You'll get the hang of it. Go by West
Marine and get a little plastic dash sticker they have showing how the
bouys are marked. Make everyone read it who drives it. You'll be fine.

My friend Dan bought a 40-something sport fisherman yacht with twin
diesel monsters in Hilton Head, SC. He and his wife had never driven a
boat in their lives, before. After showing them how to start it and
operate the controls, the broker bade them farewell and helped them by
shoving it away from the dock. Up the ICW from Hilton Head to
Charleston, they only ran it aground 4 times before getting the hang of
it. He'd never driven a rowboat, before...(c;

A blind man with $500K to spend can buy a big diesel yacht and drive it
away without breaking any laws. Blame the industry who are terrified of
licensing to make it safer. Boats are bought on IMPULSE. If they have
to go get a captain's license before driving it, they probably won't buy
it in the first place. Hence, the lobbying to prevent licensing....

I've been boating since I got my first boat for Christmas when I was 8.
Amazingly, I'm still alive to enjoy them....(c;


Larry
--
Halloween candy sure has dropped in price, lately!

Don White wrote in news:e067h.20922$cz.319363
@ursa-nb00s0.nbnet.nb.ca:

You'll be an interesting case for St. Peter when your time comes.
He'll be hard pressed trying to weigh your good deeds against your
'other activities' to see if you get a pass or not.



No problem. It doesn't exist.

Larry
--
Halloween candy sure has dropped in price, lately!