Be careful!!

[TnRiver46]

Public service announcement: please be careful and wear life jackets!!!

 

We have this way too often but two people died on the water this week, one we saw being extracted last night on our way back to the ramp. He was apparently trying to step out of a pontoon onto a plastic kayak dock with rollers , not easy for anyone. 
 

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.wate.com/news/top-stories/knoxville-fire-police-respond-to-water-rescue-suttree-landing-park/amp/
 

the other instance, everyone was wearing life jackets but two bass boats crashed at speed and one was killed on Douglas lake 

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.fox13memphis.com/news/local/one-dead-after-tennessee-boating-crash-during-bass-tournament-officials-say/Q6SLDHROPVH3NEQYWQ2MMR5PL4/%3foutputType=amp

[J Francho]

That first story is the real sobering eye opener.  How can someone drown near a dock with bystanders all around?  SImple answer: because there's water.  It's when doing simple things like stepping off the boat where the worst happens - and it does.  Truly tragic.

 

I'll bet dollars to donuts there was a blind corner and some reckless driving involved in the second tragic loss.

[InfantryMP]

Both are tragedies for sure. 

 

You know...honestly going anything over 55mph on flat water makes me a bit nervous. When the water is rollin, I hate driving fast through it. I always wear my PFD when I am driving etc, but it just makes me nervous. When I see the 250's on the lake opened up, I always make the comment in my head....that wont be me, even if I had a new rig with a 250. 

 

[J Francho]

The fastest I've driven a boat is 84.7 mph on GPS.  It took a couple years of seat time to even be able to drive my boat that fast.  There's a time and a place.  You need plenty of room, and be able to see everything around you, and know what it's all doing, which basically means no other boats, no obstructions, and no blind turns.

[TnRiver46]

4 minutes ago, J Francho said:

The fastest I've driven a boat is 84.7 mph on GPS.  It took a couple years of seat time to even be able to drive my boat that fast.  There's a time and a place.  You need plenty of room, and be able to see everything around you, and know what it's all doing, which basically means no other boats, no obstructions, and no blind turns.

In a boat hand made in TN I bet.........

 

They really should scale back tournament frequency and size but that’s not happening, too much greed from gear salesmen. I would imagine there was a minimum of 1,000 boats on the water for that crash on Douglas 

[J Francho]

Just now, TnRiver46 said:

In a boat hand made in TN I bet.........

You bet.

 

[InfantryMP]

14 minutes ago, J Francho said:

The fastest I've driven a boat is 84.7 mph on GPS.  It took a couple years of seat time to even be able to drive my boat that fast.  There's a time and a place.  You need plenty of room, and be able to see everything around you, and know what it's all doing, which basically means no other boats, no obstructions, and no blind turns.

Yea thats quick. 

 

I can see the more experience you are, the more confident you will be. I agree with all the room in the world to do it as well. In my area we have a lot of stumps that are in the local reservoir so going that fast without previous experience is a death wish in my opinion.  

[galyonj]

52 minutes ago, InfantryMP said:

I can see the more experience you are, the more confident you will be.

 

There's a catch, though. Once you get that experience and confidence, you still have to stick to your procedures, and not get lazy about the things that allowed you to safely grow that experience and confidence. I'm sure lots of people die every day and their friends say "That's so sad and surprising, [they] were so good at [the thing that killed them]."

 

It just takes a second.

[J Francho]

I drove formula Open wheel cars when I was younger and it's not much different. The mentality is the same, except there aren't any drunken idiots on the track. 

[TnRiver46]

5 minutes ago, J Francho said:

I drove formula Open wheel cars when I was younger and it's not much different. The mentality is the same, except there aren't any drunken idiots on the track. 

Skateboarding, IT, formula one, grandparenting.......... you’re like an onion 

[InfantryMP]

This is also the same reason I do not have a motorcycle. In the military there were deaths all the time of Soldiers getting killed on the bike, sometimes to no fault of their own. It was just one of those things, where I was like no, I am not going to do that. 

 

I am very careful of things nowadays. Surviving Iraq twice was stressful enough. I am a lot more cautious now, and that may be because I have a son as well, but either way safety is priority for me. 

 

Life is just too short. 

[J Francho]

Motorcycles are no bueno for me. I love them, just a bad idea!

19 minutes ago, TnRiver46 said:

Skateboarding, IT, formula one, grandparenting.......... you’re like an onion 

You barely got through the skin. These were Formula Dodge cars by the way. Way slower and less complicated than F1. 

[galyonj]

10 minutes ago, J Francho said:

Motorcycles are no bueno for me. I love them, just a bad idea!

 

I love bikes, but I won't ride one after growing up looking at my dad's leg. There are a lot of activities in which you can do everything right and still get killed, but motorcycles have to be the worst for that by far.

 

Of course, this is all academic. There's no way I could ride now with my legs as useless as they are anyway.

[GreenPig]

In my experience the most likely time for somebody to fall and possibly bump their head rendering themselves unconscious is going from dock to boat or vice versa. Very few wear a life vest getting in or out of a boat and alot of folks drown at boat ramps. 

[Fred Allen]

I cant swim so I put my life vest on before I take the kayak off the car roof. 

[DanielG]

I've lived on the lake since I was born. Good swimmer. I can tread water till the cows come home but I put on an auto-inflate vest just as much as I use my seatbelt. I'm 66 now and figure, somethings got to be different from when I was 17. I tell the wife I'm putting it on for her. Let's me off the hook that way.

I also use those thingy's that hook onto the bows of my glasses. $500 in the water and they become invisible when they hit it. I've done it once and don't want to have it happen again!

[schplurg]

Does Douglas Lake have a speed limit? I looked but couldn't find info.

 

I've gone over 100 mph in boats twice in my life, not driving either time. They were both boats my Dad manufactured back in the 60s and 70s in San Jose. One was a drag boat on the Delta, the other the family v-drive on Trinity. On that second one we buried the tach on that big block motor. Thrilling and scary.

 

100 mph in a car seems like nothing compared to a boat. 100 in a boat is scary. Heck I did 110 in my minivan when I bought it. No problem. I'd say a boat feels 3 times faster. Nobody should be going anywhere near that speed on an open public lake.

 

I would assume bass tourney participants must follow the rules of the water.

[TnRiver46]

On 4/30/2021 at 9:00 PM, schplurg said:

Does Douglas Lake have a speed limit? I looked but couldn't find info.

 

I've gone over 100 mph in boats twice in my life, not driving either time. They were both boats my Dad manufactured back in the 60s and 70s in San Jose. One was a drag boat on the Delta, the other the family v-drive on Trinity. On that second one we buried the tach on that big block motor. Thrilling and scary.

 

100 mph in a car seems like nothing compared to a boat. 100 in a boat is scary. Heck I did 110 in my minivan when I bought it. No problem. I'd say a boat feels 3 times faster. Nobody should be going anywhere near that speed on an open public lake.

 

I would assume bass tourney participants must follow the rules of the water.

To my knowledge there is no speed limit on any lakes/rivers anywhere near me, several states included 

[TcRoc]

No clue how many times I’ve heard why do have a life vest on and than a giggle, because I want to see my family . One drowned last season on a local lake I fish.. fell off boat, no pfd. 
small lake only 60 some acres. 

[TnRiver46]

Just now, TcRoc said:

No clue how many times I’ve heard why do have a life vest on and than a giggle, because I want to see my family . One drowned last season on a local lake I fish.. fell off boat, no pfd. 
small lake only 60 some acres. 

Only one accident is good, we have 12-15 most years it seems

[bulldog1935]

On 4/30/2021 at 5:04 PM, GreenPig said:

In my experience the most likely time for somebody to fall and possibly bump their head rendering themselves unconscious is going from dock to boat or vice versa. Very few wear a life vest getting in or out of a boat and alot of folks drown at boat ramps. 

On sailboats, they keep their clothes on until they board.  

[TnRiver46]

Getting a little crazy around here, I’m starting to lose count. Two men were in a boat that sank on chickamauga, one swam to shore one didn’t make it. 

[TnRiver46]

https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.knoxnews.com/amp/5201772001

 

24 boating accidents, 7 fatalities, 9 serious injuries. All before memorial day

[Bird]

Wow, thought that figure was nation wide but after reading, it's 1 state.

Hope everyone becomes more aware and realizes......much more boat activity than ever before. 

[TnRiver46]

Just now, Bird said:

Wow, thought that figure was nation wide but after reading, it's 1 state.

Hope everyone becomes more aware and realizes......much more boat activity than ever before. 

Yeah that’s just TN, and I’m sure some crashes go unreported