Circle of Death

[gim]

This incident recently occurred on a popular lake near me.  The driver of the boat was wearing a PFD but not a tether to kill the outboard after he went overboard.  He tells his story.

 

Pulled from the Lake Minnetonka FB page.

 

AN IMPORTANT MESSAGE FROM JACK D, the boater that survived yesterday’s Runaway Boat Accident…

“That was me, I am well experienced operating in rough water and I missed the kill switch lanyard when I went out. Wear your life vest and your kill switch lanyard. No joke I was minutes away from being found dead, the Sherriff got me just in time.
Here is what happened:

I don’t use Facebook anymore but I’m sitting here medicated/uncomfortable/bored.

I was out by myself running our new boat. Practicing turns and learning the boat. The wind picked up if right before I turned to the left sharp at around 35mph; when I hit the wave my body went flying, bouncing off the side of the boat and ended up in the water. I wasn’t expecting it, so I wasn’t holding on as much as I should have been. The boat and myself were totally capable of taking on the wave, except I wasn’t holding on good enough. When in bad weather, which I have piloted through countless hours, I situate myself much better. With the quick change of weather I simple wasn’t in the best position to deal with it.

If you don’t know outboard motors will go into a circle turn when no one is steering it. So I got thrown over, the boat was screaming circles near me (I knew to get away from it immediately), I had to get my life vest inflated then figure out what to do. I was in the middle of the biggest part of the lake in 40 degree water with my boat screaming circles around near me, blasting my face with its wake with every pass. It was hell.
Then I decided I better get to shore, which was a long ways away, even on a hot day with warm water and if I were a fit person. I kept working on swimming, the wind stayed strong, so there were real waves rolling over me.

Eventually I saw the sheriffs boat around my boat, I was still at least 200 yards from shore, somehow I managed to push up out of the water and wave both my arms and screaming. They saw me! They came over and dragged me out of the water. Although I was swimming and working towards shore once I was on their boat I couldn’t even lift my arms or talk. They saved my life, i don’t know if I would have made 5 more minutes. My legs were cramping around 30 minutes into my 60 minutes in the water, I was tired and slowing down. I can’t believe I survived, and don’t think I would have lasted much longer, like a few minutes longer.

They got me to an ambulance and took me to the ER, they did their thing for someone as cold as I was. The bruising is very bad on my butt, and my legs have serious bruises on them. I’m thinking the hit on my butt/hip might be worse than we though, my fingers are still numb today (I thought it was from being cold but they are still numb)

Bottom line there were multiple ways this could have been worse; I could have been knocked out, broken bones, not (somehow) able to swim in that cold water for an hour, not able to scream and wave at the sheriffs, not have the hero sheriffs out there looking for me.

I had my life vest on, no question that saved my life. Use your safety gear, don’t under estimate the risk. I have piloted boats in horrible conditions for hundreds of hours, I’m a safe pilot, this happened to me. It can happen to anyone.”

 

[Skunkmaster-k]

That’s the stuff nightmares are made of. 

[Dogface]

Was the rope around the prop used to stall the motor? 

[gim]

20 minutes ago, Dogface said:

Was the rope around the prop used to stall the motor? 

Yes.

[J Francho]

Wow, just wow.

[Jigfishn10]

I'm soooo guilty for not wearing a tether to kill the outboard...This post just may be the wake up call for me...Thanks @gimruis

[gim]

19 minutes ago, Jigfishn10 said:

I'm soooo guilty for not wearing a tether to kill the outboard...This post just may be the wake up call for me...Thanks @gimruis

I was guilty of not doing that many years ago too when I was in my family tiller boat.  Its pretty much just a routine now.  I put my PFD on when and the tether is attached when I'm using the main outboard.

[dickenscpa]

I was a co-angler ONE time and that was in 1997 and to this day I'm terrified of speed on the water. I have a boat in the garage that hadn't got wet and sold it and fell in love with kayak tournaments.

 

My boater was running wide open with a kill switch on his belt loop and no pfd. I had mine on. He hit something and the boat stopped in its tracks. We were both thrown from the boat. He was knocked out and sinking. I'm not a small guy but he wasn't either. Somehow I got him in the boat.

 

As strong as a swimmer as I am, after getting him in the boat I was toast. I could BARELY move. For the life of me I could not get in the boat. I hand walked to the back of the boat to ride the trim up onto the deck. Motor and a chunk of transom was gone. We were out in the middle of nowhere in a river system with current and shore was barely visible on one side. I knew I couldn't make it. It was all I could do to keep my arms up high enough to hang on to the boat.

 

There was a brief moment of smoke from the accident and luckily someone saw it and reported it and they came and saved us. It was local wildlife officers. To this day I do a number of wildlife officer's tax returns for free and get wildlife tags on my truck each year because every penny over normal tags goes directly to them.

 

It's just so important to wear that pfd and have the kill switch connected to it. You just can't predict what could happen.

Would a hot foot prevent the boat screaming around you in circles? I've never had a hot foot but my thinking is you put it in gear and give it gas via the foot pedal. If you get thrown from the boat, it's in gear but no gas so it should just idle in a circle.

 

Or am I wrong about how hot foot works?

[J Francho]

26 minutes ago, dickenscpa said:

Would a hot foot prevent the boat screaming around you in circles?

Yes, any hot foot I've had requires you to hold it down.  I think you may be able to adjust it so it would stay, though I'm not sure why you'd want to do that.  All that said, the boat would be in gear at idle speed, which could be much faster than most people can swim.

[Woody B]

My old boat that I sold 30 years ago was a tiller with no kill switch.  I kept forgetting to attach the lanyard with my new boat, but I've found something that helps me remember.   For some reason I can remember to cut the kill switch off (disabling the motor) when I've stopped the boat.  I'll sit down, try to start the engine, then, when it don't start I'll remember to attach it.   

 

 

I know I should all the time, but the only time I wear a life jacket is when it's really cold.  I should get an inflatable and leave it sitting in my seat, with the kill switch lanyard attached to it.   

[Bankbeater]

That is scary.

[cyclops2]

Something to decide about steering too easily. There is a FRICTION adjustment on every o b I have had up to 30 hp.   Problem is loose & easy steering can do a endless circle of death.

 

Increase the steering friction so the motor HOLDS the angle it is at.  " Come back to me !!!!!!!!!!! "

 

Which do you pick ?

 

I tie my self to the boat with a rope that is short enough to keep fingers and feet away from the prop.

I forget to use the safety line sometimes. I can pass out leaning over the edge. So I added the 1/2" diameter life line. I go out a lot alone.

[Log Catcher]

Glad you came out okay. You were very lucky it worked out the way it did. I try to use the lanyard for the kill switch but I am bad about forgetting to use it. My first boat was a tiller handle and had no cut off safety switches. 

[J Francho]

1 hour ago, cyclops2 said:

Something to decide about steering too easily. There is a FRICTION adjustment on every o b I have had up to 30 hp.   Problem is loose & easy steering can do a endless circle of death.

 

Increase the steering friction so the motor HOLDS the angle it is at.  " Come back to me !!!!!!!!!!! "

 

Which do you pick ?

 

I tie my self to the boat with a rope that is short enough to keep fingers and feet away from the prop.

I forget to use the safety line sometimes. I can pass out leaning over the edge. So I added the 1/2" diameter life line. I go out a lot alone.

You choose attaching the kill switch and the rest doesn't matter.

1 hour ago, Log Catcher said:

Glad you came out okay. You were very lucky it worked out the way it did. I try to use the lanyard for the kill switch but I am bad about forgetting to use it. My first boat was a tiller handle and had no cut off safety switches. 

Tillers for the past 40 years have had kill switches. Also, this wasn't the OP. 

[slonezp]

 

[Darth-Baiter]

I’m not a boater.  Could he have held on strong enough not to get tossed?

[gim]

25 minutes ago, J Francho said:

Also, this wasn't the OP

That’s correct this incident didn’t happen to me. Maybe I didn’t make myself clear on that. It was posted recently online and it occurred on a popular lake nearby.

[MN Fisher]

1 hour ago, gimruis said:

It was posted recently online and it occurred on a popular lake nearby.

Popular isn't the word I'd use for it...on the nice weekends, Tonka is an accident waiting to happen...probably more than one.

 

There's a reason Long Lake Rescue keeps a boat moored at the NW corner of Browns Bay and the Hennepin Sheriff's Department has an office right on Spring Park Bay with it's own docks.

[cyclops2]

As I aged I became more aware of falling over the side. So I started checking IF  IF  the shut down switch was still working. Bingo  I caught it  missing 1 test shutdown.......... Replaced it. 1st one since 1980s.  I check the switch about 3 times each season.

[12poundbass]

I would have to disagree with his statement that he’s a safe captain. A safe captain wouldn’t have done that. My lanyard is attached to my PFD and never comes off my PFD, therefore there’s no “forgetting” to attach it to your PFD. He’s lucky to be alive that’s for sure! 

[gim]

9 hours ago, MN Fisher said:

Popular isn't the word I'd use for it...on the nice weekends, Tonka is an accident waiting to happen...probably more than one.

I agree, which is why I'm not out there on those days in the summer.

 

This event occurred on Saturday afternoon during that torrential wind.  It was extremely rough and he was on the biggest open portion of the lake too.  I can't imagine there were that many other watercraft out there in it.

[dickenscpa]

22 hours ago, J Francho said:

Yes, any hot foot I've had requires you to hold it down.  I think you may be able to adjust it so it would stay, though I'm not sure why you'd want to do that.  All that said, the boat would be in gear at idle speed, which could be much faster than most people can swim.

I rode Harleys for years up until last May. Before they had true cruise control there was a tension knob on the throttle side and when you hit your speed you could tension the knob down to keep the throttle in that position. I always felt that was an insane contraption. Unlike true cruise you would go dangerously slow up hills and dangerously fast downhill.

 

Also, unlike true cruise a small flick of the brake doesn't cancel it out. You have to manually unscrew that knob. I can't tell you how many rides I've been on when an emergency stop was needed and smoke would be coming off the brakes as riders would brake but the throttle would still be sending gas. I would never "lock" a throttle on anything. I wouldn't even want cruise on a boat, no brakes. LOL!

[J Francho]

1 hour ago, dickenscpa said:

I wouldn't even want cruise on a boat, no brakes.

Most boats have a binnacle throttle control which doesn't require you holding it at all.

[Krux5506]

Operating at 35 MPH in rough water and making a sharp turn...........why? My 75hp Honda tops out a bit over 35 and I can honestly say I never am running that thing wide open in rough water not to mention making sharp turns wide open. Can't help but question his supposed countless hours of boating experience here. 

[Bankc]

Two years ago, I was talking to a OHP officer at the boat ramp who relayed this story to me about a similar incident he got called out to the weekend prior on Texoma.

 

https://www.kxii.com/2021/07/11/two-killed-one-injured-lake-texoma-boat-accident/  

 

This article seems to suggest that they weren't wearing their PFD's, but according to the officer I spoke with, they were.