Alton Jones Accident on the Sabine

[OCdockskipper]

I saw where Alton Jones beached his boat on the bank at the Sabine on Saturday, fortunately neither he nor his marshal were injured.  This is the 2nd time that has happened on this waterway during a B.A.S.S. tournament, the other being Iaconelli in 2015.

 

I don't have a huge motored bass boat capable of high speeds, I fish a smaller electric only lake.  I have had an opportunity to marshal a couple of BASS events, and would say that the pro's I was with were all excellent drivers (no Rainman reference intended).  All of the pro's I marshaled with were over 40 years old, so I have never ridden with a 20-something who might drive with a bit more bravado.  Jones, Gerald Swindle & Dennis Tiejte were very aware they had a passenger in the boat and it was clear they knew how to navigate in any potentially difficult situations.  Ish Monroe seemed a little less concerned about bouncing around and ironically, David Fritts, the oldest of them, seemed the most indifferent about how the ride was from point A to point B.  Don't get me wrong, all of their skill levels were multiple times higher than any other non-Elite boater on the water, there was just a variance in how each of them handled their machines.

 

I would have to think that the death or major injury of a marshal or cameraman at an Elite event would be catastrophic occurrence for B.A.S.S. as well as for professional fishing. Is there anything different that could (or should) be done to limit the liability of such an accident from happening or is just the nature of the game when doing 70 mph on a narrow, shallow body of water like the Sabine?  

[Log Catcher]

I think they should limit them to 150 HP motors. They might not like it but it would slow them down to a safer speed.

[Tennessee Boy]

5 minutes ago, Log Catcher said:

I think they should limit them to 150 HP motors. They might not like it but it would slow them down to a safer speed.

I agree 150 is more than enough. 

[12poundbass]

From what I've read on other sites he was hitting submerged obstructions all weekend long which I find pretty disturbing that he always ran WOT and it was no big deal. The article blames it on a broken skeg. If I remember correctly jet motors don't have skegs. Also if I remember correctly there was a Skeeter commercial where the boat did a 180 while hauling a$$! Maybe I'm being quick to judge but I'm leaning towards operater error and not a broken skeg. 

[All about da bass]

32 minutes ago, 12poundbass said:

From what I've read on other sites he was hitting submerged obstructions all weekend long which I find pretty disturbing that he always ran WOT and it was no big deal. The article blames it on a broken skeg. If I remember correctly jet motors don't have skegs. Also if I remember correctly there was a Skeeter commercial where the boat did a 180 while hauling a$$! Maybe I'm being quick to judge but I'm leaning towards operater error and not a broken skeg. 

Agreed

 

[Gundog]

Jones has been on the tour for a long time. He has over 250 tournaments under his belt. He's made countless runs wide open on all kinds of bodies of water in all kinds of weather. This is what he does for a living. If anybody can drive a boat its him. I tend to believe him when he says it was a broken skeg. Even the picture shows the skeg that is broken. 

[Logan S]

Operator error mixed with bad luck, the percentages of each will probably only ever be known by Alton himself.  Sounds like he bow hooked it on the wake of the redfish boat he was passing....He probably had the jackplate and trim high due to the shallow/stumpy water - That plus no skeg would theoretically make it a lot easier to hook the boat.  

 

IMO it's always the operator's fault to some degree, in this case he knew about the skeg and presumably knew how it could/should/would effect handling.  He's been doing this long enough to know about hooking and how/why it happens too.  

 

You can hook a bassboat with a 150HP outboard too BTW...They used to have a 150HP limit and there were accidents back then too.

[Catt]

I live 30 minutes from the Sabine River

 

Iaconelli was operator error, took a turn in the river to fast & it was on the Calcasieu River 

[kingmotorboat]

Calcasieu and sabine can both be dangerous once you get further north on them. Btw if any of you fish calcasieu, water is super low.  Find myself slowing down way more than the usual and I run up north up there alot

[38 Super Fan]

4 hours ago, Log Catcher said:

I think they should limit them to 150 HP motors. They might not like it but it would slow them down to a safer speed.

That will never fly... boat manufacturers want to sell those top of the line models.

 

It probably wouldn't make much difference in safety anyway, guys are gonna push it to the limit no matter what they're driving and an 18.5' boat with a 150 is still plenty fast enough to get hurt in.

 

Pass all the rules you want...accidents are still going to happen.

[Catt]

OK guys @kingmotorboat & I have spent our entire lives (I'm 67) fishing either the Sabine or Calcasieu River.

 

The damming of the Sabine River formed Toledo Bend Reservoir. This area has been hit with extreme rain levels for the past 3 or 4 years. This forces authorities to open the flood gates & dam on Toledo Bend which in turns floods the lower Sabine where these guys were fish. High swift waters dislodge sunken logs which become"floaters", right now both rivers are low.

 

Judging from pictures of Alton's boat sitting on the bank he was not that far north of I-10. The river is plenty wide & deep enough for running WOT. After hitting whatever was below the surface Alton no longer had control of the boat due to having no skeg. With no skeg to control the outboard it made a hard 90% turn into the bank. The Skeeter handled the 90% turn easily!

 

I'm running a 40 hp Tohatsu which is plenty fast enough at 50 mph to cause similar results.

 

It's called "accident" for a reason ?

[12poundbass]

What concerns me is he stated he had been hitting submerged object all weekend. That's fine and dandy if you want to run 70 mph by yourself but you have a marshal with you. I'm sure they sign waivers and are made aware of the risks, but still doesn't seem like the best idea to run around with your hair on fire when there are submerged objects when you're toting around another human being. JMHO

[Catt]

What he was talking about was small debris in the water nothing big enough to even scratch the gel coat.

 

In personal option after numerous hour running this river Alton did nothing wrong.

[Tennessee Boy]

8 hours ago, 38 Super Fan said:

That will never fly... boat manufacturers want to sell those top of the line models.

I couldn't agree more.  The manufacturers put a ton of money into these tournaments and they would throw a fit if they changed the HP limit.  I wouldn't be surprised if they even raised the limit.  The only thing that might change this is if a really bad accident happened.  If a tournament boat hit a house boat and killed a bunch of people,  there would be a backlash against tournaments in general.

[TOXIC]

It just goes to show that it can happen to anyone.  For those that want smaller HP motors, Just because you can do 70+ doesn't mean you have to run 70+.?

[J Francho]

3 hours ago, Catt said:

OK guys @kingmotorboat & I have spent our entire lives (I'm 67) fishing either the Sabine or Calcasieu River.

 

The damming of the Sabine River formed Toledo Bend Reservoir. This area has been hit with extreme rain levels for the past 3 or 4 years. This forces authorities to open the flood gates & dam on Toledo Bend which in turns floods the lower Sabine where these guys were fish. High swift waters dislodge sunken logs which become"floaters", right now both rivers are low.

 

Judging from pictures of Alton's boat sitting on the bank he was not that far north of I-10. The river is plenty wide & deep enough for running WOT. After hitting whatever was below the surface Alton no longer had control of the boat due to having no skeg. With no skeg to control the outboard it made a hard 90% turn into the bank. The Skeeter handled the 90% turn easily!

 

I'm running a 40 hp Tohatsu which is plenty fast enough at 50 mph to cause similar results.

 

It's called "accident" for a reason ?

I'm gonna get really picky here, the second picture cannot be Jones' lower unit.  Jones drives a Skeeter, which would have a Yamaha outboard, while pictured is a Mercury Sportmaster LU. 

 

Another tidbit, the skeg is a sacrificial appendage meant to protect the prop in case of impace.  It looks it did it's job, as Jones' prop was intact.  Losing would NOT drastically affect steering, as many have suggested.  I've fished more than a few tournaments on Oneida (Lake Propkiller), and seen many a boat make it back fine without a skeg.  I think whatever he hit probably caused him to lose control.  No way to foresee that.

[Catt]

@J Francho looks like an SHO to me ?

 

 

[J Francho]

Look at the curved leading edge on LU, what's pictured looks more like a sporty, to me.  Even the pic above shows a straight leading edge.

 

At any rate, he didn't lose enough of the LU to lose steering.  Whatever he hit caused him to lose control, so any of the comments about him being negligent by running without a skeg aren't accurate.

[Catt]

2 minutes ago, J Francho said:

Look at the curved leading edge on LU, what's pictured looks more like a sporty, to me.  Even the pic above shows a straight leading edge.

 

You would be surprised that Alton lower end is not stock?

 

I'm looking at the coloration on the bank & above the lower unit.

 

[J Francho]

Ahah!  They do have a high speed LU with a coned tip.  I take it back.  Just never seen a yammy with one like that.

 

[NittyGrittyBoy]

Lake only guys don't understand river systems.

 

Hitting logs, roots, debris, sandbars and everything in between is common on a constantly changing river system.

 

I've been running wide open hit a sandbar and spin the boat 180°. It's no different than anybody else not wanting to putt all the way back to the landing

 

I don't see where Alton did anything wrong. Accidents happen

[WRB]

Looks like Alton lost control after hitting whatever for a second, it doesn't take much to make a hard turn with hydraulic steering momentarily at 70 mph, over 100' per second and on a river with nowhere to go to straighten it out you hit the bank. Prop look ok from the photo, skeg is severely damaged, could have lost the whole lower end at that speed.

Everybody was ok, not injured, could have been worse. Alton finished the event in 50th place.

Tom

[Catt]

3 hours ago, NittyGrittyBoy said:

Lake only guys don't understand river systems.

 

Hitting logs, roots, debris, sandbars and everything in between is common on a constantly changing river system.

 

I've been running wide open hit a sandbar and spin the boat 180°. It's no different than anybody else not wanting to putt all the way back to the landing

 

I don't see where Alton did anything wrong. Accidents happen

 

This was my next comment!

 

It's not a matter of if you'll hit something, it's a matter of when & how hard.

 

As for the nonsense that manufactures wouldn't go for small rigs, they already are!

 

Many anglers are gravitating to rigs with a smaller footprint for ease of towing and storage. Almost all manufacturers offer boats in the 18-19 1/2' size rated for 115-200 hp. 

 

Y'all ever heard of 

Major League Fishing®?

[kingmotorboat]

First time I've seen pics of it. I agree it looks like it's north of i10 Louisiana bank. Nothing could've been done any better nor any worse by him. He did no wrong. It happens. Play the game you take the risk. Things that worry me @Catt on calcasieu I watch at least ten boats per weekend hauling north with 250. And when I say north I'm talking north of stack pole island north. I digress though. The incident I can honestly say in my opinion I don't think he was at fault. It's definitely wide enough in that area and pretty deep. If I had to take a guess on what happened though he hit one of those flats and the stump that came with it